Guild Wars 2

So I never buy any aesthetic items. And it’s not because I can’t afford them. It’s because I really don’t feel like they are worth anything. The reason behind this is that an item you simply buy for a few bucks is not showing any accomplishment. It only means that you have to much time and like spending it doing the same things over and over again or you can just afford it. So that’s why gem store aesthetic items are not compelling for me.
What’s more disturbing for me is that I feel like they are damaging this game reward system. Whole year has passed and we didn’t see a single armor set added to the game that is obtainable by playing it. All new armor sets were sucked in by the gem store.

My suggestion on how to fix it?

Try adding armors that are obtainable by completing meta-achievements (for example) but can’t be completed without a special item (like a magic hammer or stitch and needle) that can be bought only in the gem store. And make that special item a lot cheaper then whole armor set (like 100 gems).

Maybe someone has some other ideas? Or feel the same way about the gem store aesthetics?

The 3 armor pieces from the recently introduced Jungle Wurm say hello. Ascended armor does as well.

On the whole, i agree with you though.

And this my friend is one of the fundamental problems with in-game stores.

I’m in the same boat as you are. I (generally) don’t care a huge deal about looks unless my looks mean something. If for example, there were unique skins only accessible to sPvP regulars, I’d wear that.

Not because it looks cool (which I hope it does) but because it means something.

Unfortunately this type of progression, or cosmetic reward, always clashes with the financial desire to sell it directly to players instead. The problem with selling it directly though is that you immediately rob it of any associated in-game value.

Other games experienced similar issues, most notably WoW when it started selling mounts directly to players, something which to that point, had been reserved for achievement hunters.

I can’t really complain though because Guild Wars 2 is excellent value for money and has very fair monetization. But it does devalue the game to an extent.

One interesting idea would be to combine the two elements together.

Have a rare, in-game skin that requires some sort of difficult achievement to unlock, and then offer it to the exclusively to the player for Gems.

Say, only if you’ve completed all the Wurm achievements do you have the right to purchase the rare “Wurmkiller” set for 600 Gems.

It would facilitate both parties. It would offer exclusivity as well as real income. The only down-side is that it would only be accessible to a fairly small audience. On the other hand even cheap kittens like myself might feel compelled to purchase them if it was tied to an in-game achievement.

yea glory booster scamed by anet they wont get anymore of my money ever till that is fixed

Gem store items are intended to be aesthetic and/or “toy” items, rather than pay-to-win items. It’s done on purpose.

The past year did see some modest additions of weapons and armors outside of the gem store. Ascended weapons and armors are craftable, and the new champ system introduced many new weapons to the game.

However, I also would like to see more new gears that are not gem store items. I agree with you on that.

I don’t think we need any new gear mechanics like you suggested, though. I think ANet just needs to implement more gameplay gears than they have to this point.

Each map could have an armour skin that only drops there. Each world boss could have its own armour skin. Make them all rare drops, even stupidly rare, and people would still be a little happier than having to buy them off the Shop. I have no problems with buying gems and using them so a combination of drops and Shop item may not be too bad. Maybe along the lines of finally get your six skins and buy the “something” from the shop to put another dye channel on them if you haven’t used them yet. No extra dye channel if you don’t.

A bit of interest does need to be thrown in the armour collection direction.

jsduke.6537:

However, I also would like to see more new gears that are not gem store items. I agree with you on that.

I don’t think we need any new gear mechanics like you suggested, though. I think ANet just needs to implement more gameplay gears than they have to this point.

The problem I see with what you are saying is that by simply adding new gameplay armors they hurt the gem store and cripple its income. And this is not what you desire. Their income needs to stay high (for the good of the game). Problem is (as I said) that making the game profitable hurts the game itself.
My suggestion avoids that.

Dee Jay.2460:

One interesting idea would be to combine the two elements together.

Have a rare, in-game skin that requires some sort of difficult achievement to unlock, and then offer it to the exclusively to the player for Gems.

Say, only if you’ve completed all the Wurm achievements do you have the right to purchase the rare “Wurmkiller” set for 600 Gems.

It would facilitate both parties. It would offer exclusivity as well as real income. The only down-side is that it would only be accessible to a fairly small audience. On the other hand even cheap kittens like myself might feel compelled to purchase them if it was tied to an in-game achievement.

To fix that issue they could add an option to buy that rare set with a much higher price but without the need of unlocking it.

Get a legendary and just skin everything else according to your preference. If you like the appearance, I see no reason why you should skip on it simply because it doesn’t give you a sense of accomplishment.

HiddenNick.7206:

jsduke.6537:

However, I also would like to see more new gears that are not gem store items. I agree with you on that.

I don’t think we need any new gear mechanics like you suggested, though. I think ANet just needs to implement more gameplay gears than they have to this point.

The problem I see with what you are saying is that by simply adding new gameplay armors they hurt the gem store and cripple its income. And this is not what you desire. Their income needs to stay high (for the good of the game). Problem is (as I said) that making the game profitable hurts the game itself.
My suggestion avoids that.

I think they can do both. I don’t have the data to study, but it doesn’t seem that the introduction of Ascended Armors hurt Gem Store Armor sales any.

If they introduced new armors in the Gem Store and made those same armors craftable, that would probably hurt gem sales. But as long as they keep the two separate, it should be fine.

HiddenNick.7206:

So I never buy any aesthetic items. And it’s not because I can’t afford them. It’s because I really don’t feel like they are worth anything. The reason behind this is that an item you simply buy for a few bucks is not showing any accomplishment. It only means that you have to much time and like spending it doing the same things over and over again or you can just afford it. So that’s why gem store aesthetic items are not compelling for me.
What’s more disturbing for me is that I feel like they are damaging this game reward system. Whole year has passed and we didn’t see a single armor set added to the game that is obtainable by playing it. All new armor sets were sucked in by the gem store.

My suggestion on how to fix it?

Try adding armors that are obtainable by completing meta-achievements (for example) but can’t be completed without a special item (like a magic hammer or stitch and needle) that can be bought only in the gem store. And make that special item a lot cheaper then whole armor set (like 100 gems).

Maybe someone has some other ideas? Or feel the same way about the gem store aesthetics?

Ummm… how about the hellfire and radiant armors…

I’m the exact opposite as meaning to me comes from the soul I can give my characters thru themes and good looks. I have absolutely ZERO interest in what others think of my “skillz” because I’m wearing something that was gated in game.

They could just add in a set that say worth 120G from an npcs or just let you buy gems with gold and buy armor skins so about 80G. Gold is made to be a gen system to get things from doing what you want. If you truly wish to lock ppl into have a small chose pop. with another token system that ok but it would make the game a great deal more of an mmorpg grind.

Why I AM going to buy stuff from the Gem Store.

You see, when I play a cartoon video game, I try to never-ever lose sight of the fact that “playing” is exactly what I am doing, not “working”. This is not to say that, when playing, I do not give it my very best effort and all. But it is only to say that I make an effort to remember that the cartoon virtual world I’m having fun in should never be approached as if it were something more than this. What’s more, I also never ever measure what I accomplish in this cartoon game against what “other people” might think or judge, but solely on what I personally value and enjoy. So I could give a rats-behind if a hundred people have “The Great Sword of Awesomesauce”, if I like it, I’ll have it too.

In real life, I’ve tossed away 10 or 20 dollars on numerous occasions on stuff that can only be labeled as frivolous or unimportant. Obviously I don’t make that a habit, but from time to time I indulge myself with a bit of nonsense that appeals to me. This being the case in my real world, most certainly it will also be the case in this cartoon virtual world. Besides, what better place to toss away a SMALL bit of money on a bit of fun and frivolity, than in a game … remember I said “game”, as in the definition, Game: an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement (from Webster’s dictionary).

Last but not least, I also try hard (not always successfully) to mind my own dang business, and not that of others. As it is without doubt absolutely none of my business what others do, or do not do with their money. Nor do I begrudge people who can afford to buy things that I cannot, since that too is none of my business. So just as long as the game company lives up to its promises (or mostly does – lol) so that the amusement I now own (Gw2) is the one they advertised in order to get me to buy it, then I’m all good.

But that’s just me, and my approach … to each his own …

Wait, I’m confused a bit here. What do you mean they haven’t introduced any new armor sets to get in-game wise for a year? o.o;

Mmmmk, lets take a look at this.. I’m going to list anything cosmetically wearable. I know they aren’t all Gear Sets, but IMO thats irrelevant since the most fun part about GW2 is mixing and matching sets for a unique look.

Feb ’13 – March ’14

February – New Exotics Added for Karma at the Vendors in Orr (not entirely cosmetic, but I count it because those armors all have distinct looks from everything else in game)

March & April (the patch fell near the start of april) – Jetpack Backpack and Fused Gauntlets

May – Scerelite Backpack, White Flower Backpack

June – Dragon Bash Helms And the Two Back Items

July – Zepheryite Helm, Wind Catcher Backpeices (you could buy or obtain them in game). This was also the time the account-wide Achievement system was updated and the Radiant, and Hellfire Armor Pieces were added (I believe there is a full set to be obtained). Red Flow Backpiece. Zypher Ruckpack Back was a rare reward for one of the activities

Aug – Champion Updates Happened here that put multiple different unique items from champs around the world. Twisted Watchwork Shoulder Skins

Sept – Ascended Weapons, Teq Revamped and Unique Sunless weapons added to his drop table, Sunless Dragon Wings.

Oct – Slickpack Backpack, Twilight Assault Weapon Skins (in the new TA Path), Blood and Madness Halloween Skin.

Nov – Antedote Injector Back Piece, Gasmask Skin, Air-Filtration Device Skin, Toxic Spore Back Skin.

Dec – Ascended Armor Added, Dwayna and Grenth back items.

Jan ’14 – Wurm-Themed Armor skins.

Feb – Spinal Blades Skins, Old LS Skins Released in Rare Rewards.

That seems like a lot to me and I know I missed some in there, also I didn’t list all the new weapon skins etc, but I think this topic is silly. Also, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean its not there. I will agree on one thing I wish there were more full-sets of armor released for in-game means… but hey I’ll take what I can get I actually really enjoy hunting the armor and weapon skins they put into the game.

Ya I don’t buy “skins” from the gemstore either, mostly because there’s no accomplishment in it. It’s basically like typing in a “cheat” (or in this case, your CC info) and obtaining something for accomplishing squat. The problem is exacerbated since the endgame is pretty much entirely cosmetic based. I do recognize that Anet have introduced Ascended armor/weapons (which is great) but over a year and a half its the only whole set they’ve released that have nothing to do with the gem store. I’m totaly fine with buying convenience items, but “skins” are off-limits for me.

Not that anyone cares, but everyone is still in starter town clothes because ANet hasn;t added anything there (except crummy pirate and chef). Silvari have to run around in a bikini!

Paradox.1380:

Wait, I’m confused a bit here. What do you mean they haven’t introduced any new armor sets to get in-game wise for a year? o.o;

Mmmmk, lets take a look at this.. I’m going to list anything cosmetically wearable. I know they aren’t all Gear Sets, but IMO thats irrelevant since the most fun part about GW2 is mixing and matching sets for a unique look.

Feb ’13 – March ’14

February – New Exotics Added for Karma at the Vendors in Orr (not entirely cosmetic, but I count it because those armors all have distinct looks from everything else in game)

March & April (the patch fell near the start of april) – Jetpack Backpack and Fused Gauntlets

May – Scerelite Backpack, White Flower Backpack

June – Dragon Bash Helms And the Two Back Items

July – Zepheryite Helm, Wind Catcher Backpeices (you could buy or obtain them in game). This was also the time the account-wide Achievement system was updated and the Radiant, and Hellfire Armor Pieces were added (I believe there is a full set to be obtained). Red Flow Backpiece. Zypher Ruckpack Back was a rare reward for one of the activities

Aug – Champion Updates Happened here that put multiple different unique items from champs around the world. Twisted Watchwork Shoulder Skins

Sept – Ascended Weapons, Teq Revamped and Unique Sunless weapons added to his drop table, Sunless Dragon Wings.

Oct – Slickpack Backpack, Twilight Assault Weapon Skins (in the new TA Path), Blood and Madness Halloween Skin.

Nov – Antedote Injector Back Piece, Gasmask Skin, Air-Filtration Device Skin, Toxic Spore Back Skin.

Dec – Ascended Armor Added, Dwayna and Grenth back items.

Jan ’14 – Wurm-Themed Armor skins.

Feb – Spinal Blades Skins, Old LS Skins Released in Rare Rewards.

…

This is quite a substantial list. Many backpieces, some gauntlets, helmets and shoulderpieces here and there, many additional weapon skins…they may become quite an eye-catcher a few years in. Thats all great.
Whats a bit lacking are complete armor sets. Those karma sets where introduced [over a year ago] to give karma some of the promised value (karma was supposed to be the all round currency iirc).
From then on it seems to me that complete armor sets are exclusive to the gem shop.
I wouldn’t seriously count those “one in a million drop” ascended skins which you can’t really aquire except your RNG god likes you.
But I guess those and the achievement skins come closest to what we will get in GW2 what gives an item some kind of that “in-game-value”.

Tormented weapons would be a good example of this devalue as there is no in-game effort attached to them compared to GW1.
A level 1 can simply buy them…how exciting.

Personally I think the gem shop is generally overpriced for virtual items, be it with real money or gold>gem and thats my reason why I barely buy something from the gem shop apart from bag/bank/collection expansions, character slots and…that’s it.

Another reason why I don’t buy those gem-skins is because Anet tends to change/reskin skins post-release and then add the general ongoing stat/trait and equipment changes and the result is that in GW2 I didn’t “finalize” any of my characters regarding their look and most likely will only do, when I don’t have the feeling anymore that GW2 is still in beta.
So probably in 2-3 years…

HiddenNick.7206:

Dee Jay.2460:

One interesting idea would be to combine the two elements together.

Have a rare, in-game skin that requires some sort of difficult achievement to unlock, and then offer it to the exclusively to the player for Gems.

Say, only if you’ve completed all the Wurm achievements do you have the right to purchase the rare “Wurmkiller” set for 600 Gems.

It would facilitate both parties. It would offer exclusivity as well as real income. The only down-side is that it would only be accessible to a fairly small audience. On the other hand even cheap kittens like myself might feel compelled to purchase them if it was tied to an in-game achievement.

To fix that issue they could add an option to buy that rare set with a much higher price but without the need of unlocking it.

Well that undermines the whole prestige concept, even if it is a hefty price-tag.

Dafomen.7892:

Paradox.1380:

Wait, I’m confused a bit here. What do you mean they haven’t introduced any new armor sets to get in-game wise for a year? o.o;

Mmmmk, lets take a look at this.. I’m going to list anything cosmetically wearable. I know they aren’t all Gear Sets, but IMO thats irrelevant since the most fun part about GW2 is mixing and matching sets for a unique look.

Feb ’13 – March ’14

February – New Exotics Added for Karma at the Vendors in Orr (not entirely cosmetic, but I count it because those armors all have distinct looks from everything else in game)

March & April (the patch fell near the start of april) – Jetpack Backpack and Fused Gauntlets

May – Scerelite Backpack, White Flower Backpack

June – Dragon Bash Helms And the Two Back Items

July – Zepheryite Helm, Wind Catcher Backpeices (you could buy or obtain them in game). This was also the time the account-wide Achievement system was updated and the Radiant, and Hellfire Armor Pieces were added (I believe there is a full set to be obtained). Red Flow Backpiece. Zypher Ruckpack Back was a rare reward for one of the activities

Aug – Champion Updates Happened here that put multiple different unique items from champs around the world. Twisted Watchwork Shoulder Skins

Sept – Ascended Weapons, Teq Revamped and Unique Sunless weapons added to his drop table, Sunless Dragon Wings.

Oct – Slickpack Backpack, Twilight Assault Weapon Skins (in the new TA Path), Blood and Madness Halloween Skin.

Nov – Antedote Injector Back Piece, Gasmask Skin, Air-Filtration Device Skin, Toxic Spore Back Skin.

Dec – Ascended Armor Added, Dwayna and Grenth back items.

Jan ’14 – Wurm-Themed Armor skins.

Feb – Spinal Blades Skins, Old LS Skins Released in Rare Rewards.

…

This is quite a substantial list. Many backpieces, some gauntlets, helmets and shoulderpieces here and there, many additional weapon skins…they may become quite an eye-catcher a few years in. Thats all great.
Whats a bit lacking are complete armor sets. Those karma sets where introduced [over a year ago] to give karma some of the promised value (karma was supposed to be the all round currency iirc).
From then on it seems to me that complete armor sets are exclusive to the gem shop.
I wouldn’t seriously count those “one in a million drop” ascended skins which you can’t really aquire except your RNG god likes you.
But I guess those and the achievement skins come closest to what we will get in GW2 what gives an item some kind of that “in-game-value”.

Tormented weapons would be a good example of this devalue as there is no in-game effort attached to them compared to GW1.
A level 1 can simply buy them…how exciting.

Personally I think the gem shop is generally overpriced for virtual items, be it with real money or gold>gem and thats my reason why I barely buy something from the gem shop apart from bag/bank/collection expansions, character slots and…that’s it.

Another reason why I don’t buy those gem-skins is because Anet tends to change/reskin skins post-release and then add the general ongoing stat/trait and equipment changes and the result is that in GW2 I didn’t “finalize” any of my characters regarding their look and most likely will only do, when I don’t have the feeling anymore that GW2 is still in beta.
So probably in 2-3 years…

See, the problem with your reply is … that there ARE complete sets released.. 3 by my count, however there are tons of other wearable cosmetic items that bring in the desired “I was there” or the “I worked for this” look. I did state that I agreed there should be more Full sets, however, as ANet has stated it costs A LOT of money for them to make an entire new set of gear. They have to make Multiple versions to fit all of the body types in the game, as well as male and female versions. That is why they are few and far between, and why I for one do not care that they sell them in the Gem Shop. You can always purchase gems with your hard-earned gold.

I want to start this post off by saying that there is NOTHING WRONG with not wanting to purchase things on the gem store.

However, you have two options in MMOs.

A) Monthly Subscription

or

B) In game marketplace

As long as people keep buying things in the Gem Store, the more content this game will get. Even if it doesn’t interest you, be thankful people are willing to do it in your place.

Dee Jay.2460:

HiddenNick.7206:

Dee Jay.2460:

One interesting idea would be to combine the two elements together.

Have a rare, in-game skin that requires some sort of difficult achievement to unlock, and then offer it to the exclusively to the player for Gems.

Say, only if you’ve completed all the Wurm achievements do you have the right to purchase the rare “Wurmkiller” set for 600 Gems.

It would facilitate both parties. It would offer exclusivity as well as real income. The only down-side is that it would only be accessible to a fairly small audience. On the other hand even cheap kittens like myself might feel compelled to purchase them if it was tied to an in-game achievement.

To fix that issue they could add an option to buy that rare set with a much higher price but without the need of unlocking it.

Well that undermines the whole prestige concept, even if it is a hefty price-tag.

Not entirely. For me its still going to be an accomplishment and a cool reward for the effort. No matter the fact that someone else could buy the same armor with money. I really don’t care much about showing my accomplishment to others.
But if it’s not enough for you then they could also add some exclusive rewards for meta achievements (like minis). As they do now.

You guys are playing the wrong game. This is Fashion Wars 2 and here looking cool is the end game.

If they added anything other than cosmetic fluff and convenience items, everyone would cry “pay-to-win”. Apart from the bad nature of locking skins behind the RNG of BL chests, which I wouldn’t mind so much if it were a guaranteed scrap per chest (it still costs 900 gems to buy 10 keys after all, at +33% over the weapon skins they’ve been selling for 600 gems a piece, mind you), the gemstore is quite ideal for an MMO. It doesn’t give any unfair advantage to anyone or drive its community apart. Even more so, it gives players the option to convert currency, rather than locking everything behind a credit card like most games’ item stores do. So yeah, minus BL chests, the gemstore functions on a great system.

And you still get plenty of cool rewards in-game,just look at the wide variety of back skins we got so far. Zephyr rucksack, the red and yellow flowers, the Catchers, dragon wings! There has been several headwear pieces along too, like the Monocle, Gas Mask, Scarlet’s most recently. Some pauldrons around the time I wasn’t playing, with the chicken skulls. I do admit it would be nice if for once, instead of bits and pieces, they would do a full set for S2 of Living Story that they could spread out over multiple releases as meta-rewards perhaps.

I couldn’t give a crap about “prestige”. I want to look cool, and that is enough; I mix and match armors and having a piece I need for a look gated in some way is incredibly annoying. In real life I don’t have to slay a dragon to buy a nice coat, I just see a coat that looks nice and I buy the thing. Same goes for the game. I’m also not wearing ugly stuff just because it shows off supposed skill.

Think a legendary is prestigious? Last I checked you can buy them.

Luckily (for me) the majority of things that have been gated by killing the big boss things thus far are hideous in my view and I have no want for them whatsoever. Wearing wurm gear (for example) means that you not only beat the thing but more importantly you won against RNG – why does your having it make you better than someone who has beat the thing twice as much and never gotten that drop. A good many supposed “prestige” items are gated by RNG.

Dungeon gear is gated by tokens but that has no prestige attached to it either with the existence of path selling.

I think if you want to show how awesome you are there are titles for that like “The Sunbringer”, “Great Jungle Wurm Slayer”, etc. That shows more about your skill/dedication than happening to luck out on a RNG gear drop that you could have gotten on your first attempt with a group that knows what they are doing. As an example, I do not have the Teq title because I could count the times I have done that battle on one hand. However, on my second try at it the overall group won even though I had no idea what I was doing. If I had managed to get a Sunless weapon in the chest – which I didn’t, but for the sake of argument – would having that have said anything about my skill level at fighting Teq? Nope. It would have been through sheer luck and being carried by a group that had way more skill then me.

I disagree with the notion that looks should be meaningful. The reason is that if a look is meaningful yet ugly, it’s still ugly.

I don’t want to wear something I don’t like the look of just to be able to show I did something or I have a certain amount of stats. GW1 had this at first and so did many other games. You essentially become one of the millions of people who did that thing and now have to wear that skin.

I like armors that look funtional yet stylish. Function over form and add as much form as function allows. I’ll never wear oversized pauldrons with 2m spikes. My armor will never show skin besides my head and if needed, hands.

If there was a skin only one person could ever get and this skin showed that this person was the best player in the world and he’d get all the oohs and aahs for it, and this skin has a giant helmet, spikes and blades all over, a cleavage air-hole and glows in the dark and sparkles in sunlight, and I was the person to win it, I wouldn’t wear it.

GW has always been all about cosmetic and aesthetic look.

Justin.7163:

Ya I don’t buy “skins” from the gemstore either, mostly because there’s no accomplishment in it. It’s basically like typing in a “cheat” (or in this case, your CC info) and obtaining something for accomplishing squat. The problem is exacerbated since the endgame is pretty much entirely cosmetic based. I do recognize that Anet have introduced Ascended armor/weapons (which is great) but over a year and a half its the only whole set they’ve released that have nothing to do with the gem store. I’m totaly fine with buying convenience items, but “skins” are off-limits for me.

How is buying a skin cheating? the one I bought had no stats. To use the skin it needed to be trans-mutated on to the gear you were wearing. There was no added advantage in having the skin whatsoever outside of a specific cosmetic look.