Guild Wars 2

This is something that should be clearly earned in HoT. I understand ANET is a business, but honestly who at the meeting thought this was a good idea.

The fact that you have exalted armor, exalted weapons, it would only be logical to have exalted glider that can be earned or crafted. It is becoming very difficult to defend this game and even more difficult to justify any kind of grind when all the coolest skins can be bought. BL is destroying the reward system in this game.

EDIT : Please do not confuse this post with a QQ or the Salty tears of a homeless guy. I have likely spent more $ in this game not because I want / need items. I spend money to support a game I enjoy. Something ANET has taken for granted. Stop thinking of every player as a cash generator.

Notice the trend; there is now more cash shop only skins released of recent than things you can earn in HoT combined, all in a matter of weeks since launch. And the actual rewards you can earn by just playing the content is extremely low quality compared with what you can get with RL money.

It seems that all good things are now being put in the cash shop rather than earned in game. It’s lame but I guess this is their new direction/business model.

Unless I missed something there’s no Exalted armor. The only thing in game that’s Exalted themed is the back items, and the Auric weapons.

Everything that’s in the gem shop can be earned with in game gold, I don’t see a problem here.

GragorR.9768:

Everything that’s in the gem shop can be earned with in game gold, I don’t see a problem here.

The problem is that unless you bought the deluxe edition of HoT then there is no glider skins that a player can actually earn through playing the game and not resorting to buying gems one way or the other.

Not one single glider skin to be had as a reward for finishing the campaign or anything. And gliding was one of the main selling points of the expansion.

Yes you can “get” it by playing the game but not in the traditional sense where it’s actually a reward for playing the game.

Why? To make dat moneh!

I gave them some, too.

fellyn.5083:

GragorR.9768:

Everything that’s in the gem shop can be earned with in game gold, I don’t see a problem here.

The problem is that unless you bought the deluxe edition of HoT then there is no glider skins that a player can actually earn through playing the game and not resorting to buying gems one way or the other.

Which doesn’t contradict the point being made.

Copestetic.5174:

Why? To make dat moneh!

I gave them some, too.

Which kind of worries me. Do they really need it that bad?
Also, gave them some to.

Ykfox.3825:

Unless I missed something there’s no Exalted armor. The only thing in game that’s Exalted themed is the back items, and the Auric weapons.

There is an exalted tonic too.

CureForLiving.5360:

fellyn.5083:

GragorR.9768:

Everything that’s in the gem shop can be earned with in game gold, I don’t see a problem here.

The problem is that unless you bought the deluxe edition of HoT then there is no glider skins that a player can actually earn through playing the game and not resorting to buying gems one way or the other.

Which doesn’t contradict the point being made.

Geez, it’s almost like you cherry-picked one small part of it to suit your uh…argument, and ignored the rest.

Oh wait. That’s exactly what you did.

Why don’t you read the rest of my un-altered post then for the full version of my point?

Well this “xpac” and to be precisely dlc aka bxoed ls3 is really really small and feels like nothing else but a ripoff. The amount of added skins with launch is laughable. So is the contest and so on for the price tag.

fixit.7189:

And the actual rewards you can earn by just playing the content is extremely low quality compared with what you can get with RL money.

No one is asking you to use real money.
You want to skin?
Get gold, transfer to gems, buy the skin.

Everyone please stop kitten moaning about everything.

GragorR.9768:

Everything that’s in the gem shop can be earned with in game gold, I don’t see a problem here.

They’ve also nerfed the best gold (not mats but gold) generating source in the game by 66% at the same time we gave them money for an expansion. They launched an expansion with NO NEW DUNGEONS and removed the gold which is used to buy gems at the same time. It feels shady to me.

Ykfox.3825:

Unless I missed something there’s no Exalted armor. The only thing in game that’s Exalted themed is the back items, and the Auric weapons.

I’m guessing there will be an Exalted Outfit coming soon.

Just keep farming gold like always, right guys? What’s even the best way to get gold anymore? Silverwastes chest farming? God, if I wanted to play a game where all I did was run around in circles for the promise of a reward, I’d go back to Runescape and happily raise my agility to 99.

Of course, the alternatives are there. You could just open your wallet, because who needs to play the game, anyway? You could also play the TP to make your gold, because making gold by playing the actual game content is for suckers. Either way, there’s no need to even set foot outside of Lion’s Arch. Is this an MMORPG or a stock exchange simulator? John Smith, wanna weigh in on this?

Anyway, what I think is a more important point is that the Exalted glider skin breaks a pattern. Exalted weapon skins can be obtained by crafting. That is, they can be obtained by doing stuff in the expansion, instead of just buying it all with one’s filthy lucre. But the glider? No sweat, just buy gems. Or be ridiculously wealthy already. There’s so much I could say about this glider. It’s turning me completely against the gem store and even the Black Lion weapon skins, but that’s a bit outside the scope of this thread, so I’m cutting this post off.

Glider skins were something we figured they would monetize way back when they announced gliding, and sure enough they did. Many of us were perfectly ok with it, given that it’s a cosmetic skin, which actually has very little customization and isn’t displayed the majority of the time.

Sure, having a few in the game as earnable rewards (sort of like the hex outfit at Halloween) would be nice (and will likely come along), but it’s not the end of the world. They do need to have new desirable things in the gem store so that they can continue to bring in money to support the game’s development.

It’s in the gem store for the same reason everything else is. Once the sales of HoT drops down ANet still needs a steady-ish supply of income and that’s from the gem store.

We’ve had this for three years, we all should be accustom to this. You all can bellyache about this but ANet is still a business and the gem shop is the corner stone.

The game has gone F2P, so there will be a much harder push for gem store content than there was before.

rapthorne.7345:

The game has gone F2P, so there will be a much harder push for gem store content than there was before.

When I bought GW2 it was B2P and play forever just like GW our gemstore won’t be the driving force.

Then the game was B2P with no expansions many said they need that gemstore revenue to keep the game going. Besides, gems are cheap with gold.

Then gems got expensive and an expansion was announced and now they’ve nerfed gold rewards from dungeons that they don’t even bother fixing it adding to any more.

Now with a paid expansion the core game I paid for being given away they’re still pushing gemstore.

Hey guys at least they are not behind RNG from scraps/tickets and chests! :P

rapthorne.7345:

The game has gone F2P, so there will be a much harder push for gem store content than there was before.

You make a valid point, but wouldn’t at least a good chunk of HoT make up for that since it is even a higher prices than the core game was for the last 2 years.

Renn.8241:

fixit.7189:

And the actual rewards you can earn by just playing the content is extremely low quality compared with what you can get with RL money.

No one is asking you to use real money.
You want to skin?
Get gold, transfer to gems, buy the skin.

Everyone please stop kitten moaning about everything.

You are mistaken.
1) They nerf gold generating options. This includes dungeons & even crafting.

2) Made legendaries so expensive to create, that you are almost forced to pay for it with that currency exchange.

You also missed the point. Compare any new content & new skins to what is available on the gemstore…. even Halloween items is a perfect example. 80% of the items from Halloween had to be bought.

This game no longer requires skill. It requires $ to “pretend” you earned something. I could even buy my legendary. How pathetic is that.

Behellagh.1468:

It’s in the gem store for the same reason everything else is. Once the sales of HoT drops down ANet still needs a steady-ish supply of income and that’s from the gem store.

We’ve had this for three years, we all should be accustom to this. You all can bellyache about this but ANet is still a business and the gem shop is the corner stone.

Please re-read what I wrote in the OP. " I understand ANET is a business"
This among other things (broken promises) is bad PR.

They just released HoT which is a huge money maker for them. Placing brand new content that is specific to HoT directly on the gem store within weeks of HoT release is a terrible idea.

Your signature is the primary reason why I want ANET to listen. I’d rather not watch this game turn into CoH

Honestly, I feel like all the in-game stuff is too daunting to get.

There are no progressive skins, or cool, but not amazing skins you can really get.

It is literally “Here is the fairly lame zone skins you can get right away. Then here is the ascended weapons that will take forever. And then the legendary weapons that take longer!”

I feel there are no skins for the casuals, or even semi-hardcore. Only the hardcore (Or people who are going to be playing for a long time).

I think they need to add some more stuff for people to earn, while still being in the reach of the non-super hardcore.

Ykfox.3825:

Unless I missed something there’s no Exalted armor. The only thing in game that’s Exalted themed is the back items, and the Auric weapons.

Cherrypicking too.
There is infact Exalted armor, but not part of HoT.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Exalted_armor

I am not surprised, because I know who was ahead of the mastery system. I had a feeling they would be coming out with glider skins when I first saw them. Actually I am really surprised to see that we can at least dye our default glider different colors.

Beyond that no one has noticed how certain items have been coming into the store are clear copy and paste jobs. The only thing that is different is either the color or the functional aesthetic is better. For instance the white feather back item everyone was so eager to that get (with that temp sale they originally had) were not dye-able. However a couple of months latter they came out with the black version. It’s like all those glowing masks they put in the store with different colors. Now they finally developed an outfit that allow you to change the flame color.

Also remember this blog post (on the person behind the microtransactions division & the new mastery system).

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/hidden-arcana-developer-spotlight-on-crystin-cox/

Especially when it comes to this statement:

“Crystin felt there should be a greater balance between Gem Store item offerings and in-game rewards, and she and the rewards and commerce teams have worked on creating a clear division so that items will fit their method of distribution. For example, armor sets are now exclusively designed as in-game rewards while outfits are primarily Gem Store offerings.”

Kind of funny when we have another Revenant should-be-armor set (outfit) that is not simply another 800 gem transaction. However stuck behind a 2,000 gem bundle. It’s going to be interesting to see how many armor sets and weapons set we get in the black lion store compared to what we have in HoT.

Wolfs Shadow.7234:

EDIT : Please do not confuse this post with a QQ or the Salty tears of a homeless guy. I have likely spent more $ in this game not because I want / need items. I spend money to support a game I enjoy. Something ANET has taken for granted. Stop thinking of every player as a cash generator.

Still doesn’t change the fact that you sound like someone who wants something but is unwilling to pay, thus QQ-ing.
Its a freaking cosmetic skin, they can model it in any way and just name it “xxx”-theme.
You don’t even need it to freaking use the glider.

Wolfs Shadow.7234:

Behellagh.1468:

It’s in the gem store for the same reason everything else is. Once the sales of HoT drops down ANet still needs a steady-ish supply of income and that’s from the gem store.

We’ve had this for three years, we all should be accustom to this. You all can bellyache about this but ANet is still a business and the gem shop is the corner stone.

Please re-read what I wrote in the OP. " I understand ANET is a business"
This among other things (broken promises) is bad PR.

They just released HoT which is a huge money maker for them. Placing brand new content that is specific to HoT directly on the gem store within weeks of HoT release is a terrible idea.

Your signature is the primary reason why I want ANET to listen. I’d rather not watch this game turn into CoH

But six months from not, the expansion won’t be the huge money maker that it is now, at that point a glider skin in the gem shop is the proper place but they can’t and won’t move an item you could earn in game now into the gem shop. Gods you want a PR nightmare. So it’s immaterial that the expansion is “hot” now, they are NOT going to stop adding items to the gem shop until the expansion sales dies down, even if it’s only expansion related.

Plus how many people bought half priced gems with the ultimate expansion. ANet would love to drain that from them ASAP so they would have to buy more when the Wintersday swap hits the gem shop as well as the usual New Year sale. So we get this skin, the 2K Crystal Arbiter Pack which includes a different glider skin.

The expansion is a total rip off from my point of view.. Period. 60+ bucks is what I paid for the original game with 75% more content. Now everyone and there dog gets the base game for free, which I did not, and have to pay for a expansion which is almost as much as the original game.

Cold day in hell ArenaNet…

Renn.8241:

fixit.7189:

And the actual rewards you can earn by just playing the content is extremely low quality compared with what you can get with RL money.

No one is asking you to use real money.
You want to skin?
Get gold, transfer to gems, buy the skin.

Everyone please stop kitten moaning about everything.

Compared to other MMOs, gold is terribly slow to get the “normal way” if you are not into playing broker. Of course, it shouldn’t probably be farmed as easy as in current-WoW (or so I’ve heard). And you totally missed the point. Reading must have become a harder challenge than raiding/grinding apparently <sights>. And no, that has nothing to do with “wanting everything asap.” Simply a guts-based impression.

But there’s only a handful of things you need a lot of gold for.

check out the ncsoft profit/loss statement…
it stated gw2 income drop is due to cash shop items, so now they pushing more cash shops items! :OOOO

Behellagh.1468:

Wolfs Shadow.7234:

Behellagh.1468:

It’s in the gem store for the same reason everything else is. Once the sales of HoT drops down ANet still needs a steady-ish supply of income and that’s from the gem store.

We’ve had this for three years, we all should be accustom to this. You all can bellyache about this but ANet is still a business and the gem shop is the corner stone.

Please re-read what I wrote in the OP. " I understand ANET is a business"
This among other things (broken promises) is bad PR.

They just released HoT which is a huge money maker for them. Placing brand new content that is specific to HoT directly on the gem store within weeks of HoT release is a terrible idea.

Your signature is the primary reason why I want ANET to listen. I’d rather not watch this game turn into CoH

But six months from not, the expansion won’t be the huge money maker that it is now, at that point a glider skin in the gem shop is the proper place but they can’t and won’t move an item you could earn in game now into the gem shop. Gods you want a PR nightmare. So it’s immaterial that the expansion is “hot” now, they are NOT going to stop adding items to the gem shop until the expansion sales dies down, even if it’s only expansion related.

Plus how many people bought half priced gems with the ultimate expansion. ANet would love to drain that from them ASAP so they would have to buy more when the Wintersday swap hits the gem shop as well as the usual New Year sale. So we get this skin, the 2K Crystal Arbiter Pack which includes a different glider skin.

So what? As a consumer it’s not my concern and it shouldn’t be yours either.

The complaint is why have a gem store skin exclusive to HoT when HoT is barely two weeks old. The choice is to not offer any HoT gem items until HoT is several months old or do what they are doing. Purely cosmetic items are found in the gem shop, always were.

But I get it, why couldn’t ANet throw the players a bone and give it to them has a prize from a meta event or something. After all ANet just got “paid” for the expansion so it should have some “free” stuff as a reward or stuff that could be crafted.

Because Fashion Wars 2 is all about selling unique looks at the gem shop. And since you can buy gems with in game gold, it’s still “free”, with a little effort. It’s just not as easily “free” now that the liquid gold taps got turned down.

And as for why it’s my concern? I want to keep playing this game. I want more content. I want an improved game engine. I want the Mac players to get a better version. All of that depends on ANet’s ability to generate a stable cash flow. Otherwise there will be layoffs and the quick slide to eventual closer.

The “give me free stuff, you owe me for buying the expansion” entitlement is sad. They owe the HoT player base nothing other than what was promised. And they delivered on, or in the process of delivering on that when Raids hit soon. We got our new profession, sub-professions, harder PvE enemies, a system to grow our character’s abilities past level 80, guild halls, etc. And the new personal story isn’t half bad. Don’t think it’s worth $50, fine.

Behellagh.1468:

After all ANet just got “paid” for the expansion so it should have some “free” stuff as a reward or stuff that could be crafted.

I’m not sure you understand what “paid” and “free” entail.

ArenaNet just asked people to pay $50,00 – which is overpriced in comparison to most expansions (actually, all expansions other those from Blizzard) – and they delivered very little content in exchange for that. Noticeably, HoT came with just 2 new armor sets and just 5 new weapon sets.

Now, why did HoT come with so few skins? Because ArenaNet’s artists are overwhelmed and couldn’t make more skins?

Nope. They have been releasing a very large amount of new skins in the Gem Store since the HoT release.

ArenaNet has not added more skins to HoT because they have decided that those $50,00 players paid were not enough to buy more than the few skins they have added to the game. No matter how overpriced those $50,00 were, how HoT had at release less than ArenaNet had promised the game would have (where are the 3 legendaries that would be available at release? Where’s the new squad system? Where’s the fractals leaderboard?), how HoT came only with 4 new PvE maps… Despite ALL that, ArenaNet still thinks everything the players paid did not deserve some new skins.

Making money is an important part of a business, sure. Earning and keeping the trust of your customers is also an important part of a business, and ArenaNet’s recent actions appear to be failing at that.

Then the solution for you is simple, don’t buy them, at least with cash bought gems. If you think ANet violated your trust in them then short of asking for a refund or stop playing so they see a dip in their metrics of long time players who stopped logging in, that is all you can do in a B2P game.

The only thing that startled me a bit was the outfit/glider skin/exclusive weapon skin bundle in the gem shop. That’s a new way of selling pretty. Other than that it’s same old same old. New story comes out, we get skins (and minis) that tie back to the story. Every month or so, new BLC weapon skins. So got two this time in a short period of time. I am utterly non-pulsed by any of that. That’s gem shop business as usual.

Nobody is holding a gun to my head and tell me to buy any of them.

Behellagh.1468:

That’s gem shop business as usual.

Nobody is holding a gun to my head and tell me to buy any of them.

Developers love you!

“The Silence is what publishers want. They keep their mouths shut and wait for their audience to get bored of the latest scandal. It’s an effective tactic, one that creates aggressive and infectious apathy. That apathy is then used to lash out at others who won’t “get over it” and continue to talk about scandalous antics."

I’ve never been against supporting companies that make games I enjoy. Never once have I said I wouldn’t buy HoTs or that anet doesn’t have a right to make money.

That doesn’t mean I can’t disagree with some of (a lot of) their decisions on how to monetize the game.

Since we’re talking fallacies, what you’re arguing is called a straw man fallacy.

fellyn.5083:

I’ve never been against supporting companies that make games I enjoy. Never once have I said I wouldn’t buy HoTs or that anet doesn’t have a right to make money.

That doesn’t mean I can’t disagree with some of (a lot of) their decisions on how to monetize the game.

I was speaking generally, not to anyone in particular. I figured that was self-evident. Forums. Expressing opinions and ideas and all that.

I did not say fellyn.5083 is guilty of the things I mentioned. I didn’t single anyone out in particular.

What brought that on? What made you think I was speaking of you? Who said you had to agree with everything Anet does?

I certainly don’t agree with everything they do. I doubt anyone agrees with everything anyone does 100% of the time.

At least with regards to the mentally sound.

fellyn.5083:

Since we’re talking fallacies, what you’re arguing is called a straw man fallacy.

You’ve misinterpreted or else misrepresented what I’ve said. You’re positing a straw man by falsely accusing me of the same.