Guild Wars 2

I recently got 1600 gems from a friend of mine for celebrating my move to Guild Wars 2. I am now level 57 as of this post and I am wondering, what should I get with it? Spend the rest of the gems on gold or should I buy some items on the store?

I already bought a plush charr backpack because it’s soooooo cute ^.^

Any suggestions?

(PS: I only got 1300 gems as of right now)

For me, the best things I have purchased are Unlimited Gathering Tools, Character Slots, and Bank Tabs.

Tools are probably my favorite, because not having to change tools or carry around different quality tools is fantastic!

Welcome to Tyria! =)

The unlimited salvage tool.

You can thank me later.

In my opinion everything that is part of the game should be in the game, not in some cash-shop. So when you get gems anyway I would only spend them on things that should not be in the game itself. Character slots or a name changer for example. I guess bank tabs are sort of oke. But it really depends on how you look towards it.

Anyway, that sort of things are really additions to the game and you don’t support taking elements that should be in the game out of the game and into the cash-shop.

In my opinion, anything of convenience is fair game for the Gem Store. And you, OP, will find any of the Unlimited Tools very convenient. =)

With 1300 gems, Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic. 800 gems. Great for cleaning out all that low value loot and getting luck as well as mats on the fly without having to worry about carrying a bunch of kits. That will leave you with 500 gems and only 100 gems away from a bank expansion. The other unlimited tools are 1000 gems.

The convenience items are awesome, but if you’re not interested in that, there are some fabulous armor skins you might like for when you’re level 80!

Mystic Stones, so that way you can make Mystic Salvage kits

I’d say 1 armor skin (they never get old, you can refit on any future toons. 600-800) and a salvage tool.

I prioritized bag slots, since they are always useful. Especially if you play one character much more than others. I’ve also bought a couple skins, but that salvage-o-matic others have mentioned looks really good and I’d pick one up if I had a few more gems. Just remember to use better salvage kit on rares/exotics once you get higher start getting drops around level 70.

serapheles.5409:

I prioritized bag slots, since they are always useful. Especially if you play one character much more than others. I’ve also bought a couple skins, but that salvage-o-matic others have mentioned looks really good and I’d pick one up if I had a few more gems. Just remember to use better salvage kit on rares/exotics once you get higher start getting drops around level 70.

@Everyone.

So far these are great suggestions. What exactly does the auto harvester do? What makes it better than say me carrying the best tool?

As for skins, I am on the fence about them. A lot of them (I have a female ranger) are really kittenty (to me anyway). As for bag slots and so forth, that sounds like a cool idea :P

As for the salvage o matic, I don’t like how it takes copper to use but at the same time, it sounds very useful if it’s permanent :P A few copper instead of 18 silver? Hmm.

Keep sending ideas!

Spend them on the basics. Ya know, the stuff that should be included without having to spend anything. Bag slots and bank space.

The only purpose of the unlimited gathering tools and the copper-fed salvager is the convenience of not having to go to a vendor to buy a new tool. If you’re not lazy, you can simply teleport to the Edge of the Mists WvW map and there’s a vendor right there (then teleport back to where you were). The salvager however is the best of the unlimited tools if you actually salvage stuff, because you’ll use far more than the 25 limit of other basic kits. The living story for example usually makes it so you can’t leave and come back easily during farm events, requiring you to carry multiple salvage kits.

If you need more space, a character slot is better than a bag or bank slot and a private guild for its guild bank is even better. If you hoard materials, the collection expander is also decent. If you like zerging for extended periods however, a bag slot expansion is decent, since you’ll gain far more than you can hold, especially during living story zerg events. I would only recommend an extra bag slot if you have decent sized bags however (18-20). An extra bank slot is useful when you want account bound storage and don’t want to deal with hunting for items on alts.

Now that skins are account unlocks, those are a fair option, but their look is entirely up to you.

I don’t recommend any temporary or RNG items like keys. You’ll get forge stones through achievement point reward chests and BL salvage kits through the daily, eventually.

Lastly, I don’t recommend buying anything now, because everything will eventually go on sale at some point this year, that is, if an extra 100 or so gems matters to you.

I bought event skins (e.g. mad king outfit which was nicely done, the regular skins are mediocre at best), bank slots, character slots

bag slots are not account wide so I usually avoid it as I have a lot of alternates.

and I tend to avoid consumable items as well.

@Everyone.

So far these are great suggestions. What exactly does the auto harvester do? What makes it better than say me carrying the best tool?

As for skins, I am on the fence about them. A lot of them (I have a female ranger) are really kittenty (to me anyway). As for bag slots and so forth, that sounds like a cool idea :P

As for the salvage o matic, I don’t like how it takes copper to use but at the same time, it sounds very useful if it’s permanent :P A few copper instead of 18 silver? Hmm.

Keep sending ideas!

Skins are pretty hit and miss, so I suggest not getting a particular skin if you are on the fence. The salvage o matic is useful for salvaging a hundred low-rarity items in a short time span (it happens), and I dislike the copper part too, but it’s the difference between 3 copper (or however much it is) now and x copper per salvage, and y salvages, all at once. As for gathering tools, I would prioritize them in order of perceived usefulness. That is, I see picks as most useful because I feel like (without checking, so I may be wrong) ore is consistently the most valuable to gather (3 per, rates, usefulness, et cetera), while axes are the least useful (I feel like wood is super cheap). If you need wood to make bows, you need ingredients for cooking, or something else, then you may want a different tool. Just remember the gathering tools are a convenience, and only save you money in the long run if you use them a lot.

Salvage tool and bag space are must useful item in gem store if you ask me

IMO, the unlimited harvest tools and salvage are good but aren’t exactly essential. I have them and yes they are convenient.

But for starters, I feel it is almost ESSENTIAL to expand bank slots. It is ridiculously hard to play the game with only 30 slots.
I am a hoarder and I max out all my bank slots. They are still full 90% of the time.

Bank tabs, armor sets you like, maybe a gathering tool.

As many have mentioned: unlimited gathering tools.

Those are amazing.

On top of this I would also say maybe a total makeover kit and a bank tab expansion. You won’t be able to afford all of these with 1300 gems but I think these are the best items to buy in the gem store.

Gathering tools for obvious reasons – they gather stuff, are highest tier, and never run out. They’re pricey enough that they don’t pay themselves off that well, really, in comparison to regular gathering tools but the convenience is worth every single gem.

Makeover kit because new hairstyles and faces are usually pretty cool, and the hair/eye colors are beautiful. It’s always nice to have a character that is visually pleasing – while it’s not essential for gameplay, it’s essential for enjoying the game in my opinion. It’s just recreational to have a character that doesn’t look like an idiot with starter gear.

Bank tab expansions because once you start getting bloodstone dust more often, you will have so many kitten stacks of bloodstone dust you will go bonkers.

Some things I read I don’t agree with:

Armor skins: some of them are nice, but if you don’t like them – don’t buy them. They’re skins, plain and simple. The main game offers nice skins (I was going to say plenty of them but that’d be a lie) that you can strive to achieve. If you do like them, buy them – you won’t regret having skins you like on a character.

Bag slots: I say no to this, I use 15 bag slots on my ranger (which cost like less than 1g each right now, I think) and that’s more than enough space to manage my inventory as long as I take the time to manage it. I use the Salvage-o-Matic to help keep it clean though, the one copper charge pays for itself eventually because the cost of regular kits exceeds that (like 1s88c I believe for the basic kit which would end up being 188 uses on the Salvage-o-Matic vs. 25 uses on the bought kit).

salvage tool i totally agree with that such a QoL tool

after that those gathering tools

so u need a little more gems

lets say

4000 gems but then u have a great life

bank tabs, collection expander, and character slots only.
not even bag slots.
the other thing like “gathering tools” are just waste of money.

Chase.8415:

Mystic Stones, so that way you can make Mystic Salvage kits

You get a ton of those from achievement chests later on. I really don’t recommend buying these stones.

It really depends on where your focus is. If you don’t mind retrieving new gathering tools when you run out (or storing extras in your inventory), the unlimited harvesting tools aren’t terribly convenient. The salvage-o-matic ends up costing you nearly as much as a basic harvesting kit, since it’s 3c per salvage. 25 charges=75c. A basic salvage kit will cost you 88c from a vendor. It’s about the convenience of never running out that makes the salvage-o-matic appealing to some people. (I have one, I like it.)

I wouldn’t mess with mystic forge stones, but if you like alts, then you’re going to want to get more character slots. If you hoard stuff, you’ll want another bank tab. Those are pretty solid purchases.

If you want to go for the look, then I can highly recommend makeover kits, hairstyle kits, and armor skins. I think the viper set is really nice, without being kitteny. Medium aetherblade and magitech are also very well done. I also really like the rampager set (that’s the new heavy skin, right? That’s the one I mean) for heavy armor classes.

I hope you enjoy whatever it is you decide to get, and welcome to the game!

From the viewpoint of a hoarder, bank tabs and collection expanders.

Mannulus.4793:

I recently got 1600 gems from a friend of mine for celebrating my move to Guild Wars 2. I am now level 57 as of this post and I am wondering, what should I get with it? Spend the rest of the gems on gold or should I buy some items on the store?

I already bought a plush charr backpack because it’s soooooo cute ^.^

Any suggestions?

(PS: I only got 1300 gems as of right now)

Bank tabs. Thank me later. I know it’s boring but makes your life more comfy xD

Wait until you hit lvl80 and know what to buy yourself =)
I’ll say character slots, if you want some more, perhaps a bank slot.
Never ending harvesting tools are nice to have but nothing really important (IMO). I would just never ever buy gold with it! Rather armor skin or something ^^

Salvage tool, unlimited gathering tools and bank/collection space in that order. I consider bank space lower importance because you’re new to the game and don’t have much yet to store.

Bank tabs, unlimited harvesting tools, character slots, skins
Stuff that makes your account better.

After that you can buy toys, make over kits, whatever floats your boat really.

aww as you can see I never have enough gems

I’ve gone though…well, a lot of gems. My personal preferences:

Unlimited harvesting tools (I have 3 sets)
Character slots (up to 12 chars now, on my primary account)
Bank tabs (always handy)
Collection expanders (I horde mats and share with my guildies, so very handy for me)
Skins (I’m an armor kitten, I freely admit it)

Beyond that, gems never expire, so it’s not a bad thing to just hold onto them until you see something you really want either.

Bank tabs, collection tabs, that sort of thing.

Something hard to “improve” by turning it into a 15 min tonic.

Infinite copper-fed salvage machine – best purchase ever.

For those recommending the salvage tool, what do you get out of that, exactly? I’ve got gathering tools and lots of other things I picked up in the store, but I passed on that one. Seems like it costs as much Basic Salvage Kits, since there is a cost per use, no? Maybe I just did the math wrong?

The new drum is pretty fun.

From a more pragmatic perspective, though, consider extending your bags/banks, getting a permanent gathering tool and/or the infinite salvage machine.

notebene.3190:

For those recommending the salvage tool, what do you get out of that, exactly?

It will never pay for itself, but it is a huge time saver to never buy salvage kits for ordinary trash loot.

Naevius.3185:

notebene.3190:

For those recommending the salvage tool, what do you get out of that, exactly?

It will never pay for itself, but it is a huge time saver to never buy salvage kits for ordinary trash loot.

OK, thank you. Plus, I carry about like 4 stacks of basics, sometimes 5 just so I don’t have to buy as often. I guess that’d free up some bag space too?

I’ll have to keep an eye on that next time it goes on sale, thank you.

Anything that is permanently unlocked with no future additional cost, not lost if deleted if it’s gear, toys or tools, and that it’s permanently available for all characters if it’s something they can use.

Right now this includes:
- Character slots.
- Bank slots.
- Collection expansions.
- Finishers.
- Basic Ore Node Pack
- Digital deluxe upgrade

- Skins require you to keep paying transmutation costs. So they are out. If you are going to pay gems for a skin, it better become free to apply on acquisition like HoM and AP skins.
- Bag slots are character-bound, and gone when you delete the character instead going back to an account bound pool of unlocked bag slots (e.g.: You can’t click bag slots in other characters to unlock as many bag slots as a previously deleted character had). So they are out too.
- Toys and tools require you to trade them with the bank all the time even if they are account bound, as there’s not “Toys and tools” collection tab in the bank from which you can retrieve unlimited copies of them, allowing each character to get and use their own. So they are out too.
- Boosters have timed effects that force you to stick to a certain task for their entire duration instead a guaranteed bonus effect pool that kicks in when you perform he related action, allowing you to do that action in your own time. So they are out too.
- Makeover kits won’t unlock styles. So you have to pay full price to go back to a previously set hair style, instead just some coins by talking to an stylist NPC, letting unlock some hair styles to change more often between them. So they are out too.

Costumes are permanantly unlocked for your characters and require zero stones to transmute.

The Bloody Prince Costume is very stylish on females.

Devata.6589:

In my opinion everything that is part of the game should be in the game, not in some cash-shop. So when you get gems anyway I would only spend them on things that should not be in the game itself. Character slots or a name changer for example. I guess bank tabs are sort of oke. But it really depends on how you look towards it.

Anyway, that sort of things are really additions to the game and you don’t support taking elements that should be in the game out of the game and into the cash-shop.

Don’t call it a cash shop. You can get EVERYTHING in the gem store without spending a dime in real life.

Are the infinite salvage or and infinite gather ones available right now? I have some gold I would like to convert to gems if they are.

Thanks.

Lankybrit.4598:

Are the infinite salvage or and infinite gather ones available right now? I have some gold I would like to convert to gems if they are.

Thanks.

There’s an ax right now, for a few more days.

Mannulus.4793:

I recently got 1600 gems from a friend of mine for celebrating my move to Guild Wars 2. I am now level 57 as of this post and I am wondering, what should I get with it? Spend the rest of the gems on gold or should I buy some items on the store?

I already bought a plush charr backpack because it’s soooooo cute ^.^

Any suggestions?

(PS: I only got 1300 gems as of right now)

To me, the best thing I’ve ever bought on the gem store would have to be the extra bank space! Totally worth it!

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lankybrit.4598:

Are the infinite salvage or and infinite gather ones available right now? I have some gold I would like to convert to gems if they are.

Thanks.

There’s an ax right now, for a few more days.

Thanks.

Solidbeatz.8571:

Devata.6589:

In my opinion everything that is part of the game should be in the game, not in some cash-shop. So when you get gems anyway I would only spend them on things that should not be in the game itself. Character slots or a name changer for example. I guess bank tabs are sort of oke. But it really depends on how you look towards it.

Anyway, that sort of things are really additions to the game and you don’t support taking elements that should be in the game out of the game and into the cash-shop.

Don’t call it a cash shop. You can get EVERYTHING in the gem store without spending a dime in real life.

You can become a doctor if you want to. You just have to go to medical school.

As a more-or-less WvW only player, the only thing of any use for me in the cash shop are the finishers. Let’s say I want the Whump Finisher. It costs 800 gems. That’s 76 gold by current exchange rate. Newsflash: WvW chests drop crap. 76 gold isn’t easy to come by on top of regular gear upgrades and food and other running expenses. 70+ is what I paid for my Traveler’s runes, and it was no small purchase for me.

Yes, they can all be purchased by grinding gold. I don’t argue with that. I do, however, take exception to the notion that the Gem Store isn’t a “cash shop”, because that is very clearly what it is intended to do: take cash from your wallet and put it into ANet’s. They wind up your desire/need to possess something, and then present it to you in two ways: you can either buy it with your allowance/life savings now, or you can submerge yourself in the tear-inducing boredom of the champ train and buy it much later.

Except that many promotional items can only be purchased during the short period of time they are available. The Grenth Hood was only available during the Wintersday event. If you didn’t have time then to grind up 47 gold, too bad. Could’ve bought it with your PayPal.

Just saying.

msalakka.4653:

Solidbeatz.8571:

Devata.6589:

In my opinion everything that is part of the game should be in the game, not in some cash-shop. So when you get gems anyway I would only spend them on things that should not be in the game itself. Character slots or a name changer for example. I guess bank tabs are sort of oke. But it really depends on how you look towards it.

Anyway, that sort of things are really additions to the game and you don’t support taking elements that should be in the game out of the game and into the cash-shop.

Don’t call it a cash shop. You can get EVERYTHING in the gem store without spending a dime in real life.

You can become a doctor if you want to. You just have to go to medical school.

As a more-or-less WvW only player, the only thing of any use for me in the cash shop are the finishers. Let’s say I want the Whump Finisher. It costs 800 gems. That’s 76 gold by current exchange rate. Newsflash: WvW chests drop crap. 76 gold isn’t easy to come by on top of regular gear upgrades and food and other running expenses. 70+ is what I paid for my Traveler’s runes, and it was no small purchase for me.

Yes, they can all be purchased by grinding gold. I don’t argue with that. I do, however, take exception to the notion that the Gem Store isn’t a “cash shop”, because that is very clearly what it is intended to do: take cash from your wallet and put it into ANet’s. They wind up your desire/need to possess something, and then present it to you in two ways: you can either buy it with your allowance/life savings now, or you can submerge yourself in the tear-inducing boredom of the champ train and buy it much later.

Except that many promotional items can only be purchased during the short period of time they are available. The Grenth Hood was only available during the Wintersday event. If you didn’t have time then to grind up 47 gold, too bad. Could’ve bought it with your PayPal.

Just saying.

By your logic, you can call the TP a cash shop too, since gold can be bought with real money.

The only reason to buy gems with real money is to save time on w/e you want to buy, whether it be a legendary weapon or a finisher.

If you can’t cough up the gold for it, doesn’t take away the fact that it’s only intended for “cash” transactions. So why call it a cash shop when there are multiple ways to acquire the gems to buy anything in the gem store.

Sorry for the OT.

Things that you’ll more than likely need if you continue playing (and are a hoarder) are the bank tabs and collection expanders.

Great convenience items are the Copper-Fed Salvage-o-Matic and unlimited gathering tools, but are not necessary.

Bank tabs and character slots are awesome. By the time you need a 6th character you’ll have enough gold to buy it that way, but I ran out of bank space by the time I was level 80 my first time.

I would say permanent things
like character slots,
bank slots,
armor skins (since they’re now permanent in wardrobe in exchange for charge costs),
or unlimited tools/salvage (all you have to do is go to the bank when you want to change characters)

I’ve bought the perm salvage thing because it was so annoying to keep a bunch in my inventory,
not to mention they took up a lot of space, and if I didn’t keep a lot of them in my inventory, I would run out at inconvenient times, like in a dungeon.
Now, though, it only takes up one slot and I can always salvage things.
So, I’ve never regretted buying it, it’s very useful.

The perm unlimited tools are probably good too, imagine running out of a tool just when you’ve found a rare ore or something. I could see how those could be useful.

Save, then get 3 character slots when they’re on sale. After that, buy bank tabs.

No point buying a perm salvage kit with gems when you can buy a perm black lion merchant contract for like 300-400 gold. That acts as a perm salvage kit AND merchant AND perm tools. You’ll never run out of inventory space, kits or tools ever again with just that.

Those gems are not going anywhere so you don’t have to spend them all immediately. You could just save them for now and wait until you find something that you actually need or want.

Can’t go wrong with bank tabs

You can always get bigger bags so bag slots not so much. You can get more bank space with a private guild bank but that will only hold items that are not soul- or account-bound.

After that get whatever you like. I like to collect the skins and musical instruments myself.