Guild Wars 2

Cinnamon Goddess.3869:

This gives those who spend real money an advantage to more easily make in-game money because they are the only one who can produce the Starcakes because the recipe isn’t tradable. I think this would have been perceived much better if it were tradable even though it would still be wrong based on Anets insistence on not being pay2win.

This gives those who spend money no advantage, because there are tons of those Starcakes on trading post. You can buy as many as you like.

If the food itself wasn’t tradable, you’d have a point, but it’s perfectly sellable just like any other food.

Cinnamon Goddess.3869:

Why do they want to make it impossible for me to collect everything in the game unless I spend real money? When I look at my broken set of Minis because I refuse to pay $5 each for them it irritates me and makes me not want to play anymore. Minis are one thing; this actually is crossing the line for me. Now I have to ask myself do I really want to beat my head against the wall trying to compete with people who will and can spend real money? They are pushing people like me away. I hope they realize this!

Because that was the marketing plan from the beginning. Selling cosmetic luxury items primarily for real money. If you didn’t like that, why did you buy the game?

I have a suggestion, take your first world problems somewhere else.

Point that has been made many times: You can farm in game, and buy the starcakes and they will forever be available on the trading post. Or you could farm the gold, and buy rich dragon coffers and do it enough that eventually, you get the recipe. Of course, you will, almost guaranteed, spend far more on the coffers trying to get the recipe than if you stockpiled the food (and this would be a bad idea, just buy a little here and there as you need if you feel you must have it).

The food is not a ‘must have’ that makes you some sort of deity in game, and suddenly makes anyone not using it in wvw drop dead. It is a rather expensive food with ‘meh’ stats. You can change a build to take advantage of it the same way you can make a build to take advantage of a food that gives dramatic boost to only a few stats.

No, there is 1 slight advantage. They can make the starcakes and resell them for a little cash. But by the same token, since 3 days before launch, they could buy gems and sell them for in game gold… Any precedent on this was indeed set before launch. Trust me when I say we are all keeping an eye for anything that would indeed be pay to win. IF they really crossed that line, there would be far more outspoken complaints. We all are keeping them at their word that the game will not be ‘pay2win’

They are a business, and anything that will make them money without a real risk of hurting the game they will take, and you cannot really blame them unless you are completely against anyone making money. Keep in mind Guild Wars and now Guild Wars 2 are the things that Arenanet bet the entire company on. There is nothing they can fall back on. If they off GW2, they effectively off themselves, and NC would move in to take corrective action with a heavy hand, instead of giving them a lot of freedom.

AntiGw.9367:

Cinnamon Goddess.3869:

This gives those who spend real money an advantage to more easily make in-game money because they are the only one who can produce the Starcakes because the recipe isn’t tradable. I think this would have been perceived much better if it were tradable even though it would still be wrong based on Anets insistence on not being pay2win.

This gives those who spend money no advantage, because there are tons of those Starcakes on trading post. You can buy as many as you like.

If the food itself wasn’t tradable, you’d have a point, but it’s perfectly sellable just like any other food.

Only gems can get the recipe, so they can make money by making the cakes. So yes, only gems will allow you to make money by making dragon cakes, because if you’re buying the cakes off TP, you’re not making money selling them.

But the lovely thing about the TP is, that after a while people will only be willing to pay the material costs+ TP fees, and maybe a small bit extra. So the cakes won’t earn much money for long if they’re even still profitable atm.

Lane.3410:

First of all, boosters come readily in BLCs and you never have to buy a BLC key from the gem store since they’re easily obtained through map completion and personal story. You aren’t given a choice with Rich Dragon Coffers, you have to purchase them from the gem store. Therefore, they don’t share the same methods of acquisition.

You have to purchase the recipe from the Rich Dragon Coffers. The cakes themselves are NOT account bound and are obtainable, and will always be obtainable for gold. In many ways, neither of these two items require gems to acquire, the point of “pay to win” is their mere precence in the gem store.

(Side note: the recipe is even less useful than the TP at the moment. The cost to buy one off the TP is far, far lower than the cost to craft them.)

Lane.3410:

Even if boosters were strictly gem store only items, you can buy exactly which boosters you want, they’re not tucked inside a gem-store-only RNG box where you hope you get the item you’re seeking.

This has nothing to do with the topic at hand. There are many threads where people bemoan the RNG, but I was under the impression I was debunking the “pay to win” comments.

In fact, this only makes the boosters more “pay to win” than the recipe! You can readily acquire the boosters for gems, wheras you only have a chance to acquire the recipe for gems. If you were intent on turning your gems into a combat advantage, the boosters are by far the better bet.

Lane.3410:

Not to mention that boosters aren’t equivalent to a recipe at all. Anyone can buy and receive boosters (or get them for free), not everyone can buy a Rich Dragon Coffer and receive the recipe. Also, since the recipe is account bound it means only people going through the gem store have access to it, which is a blatant slant toward the cash shop that definitely crosses over the “it’s only vanity” argument that people like to use for everything else.

You don’t see why BOTH these items cross over the “it’s only vanity” argument? If you finish your entire personal story (2) and acquire map completion (you’ll get a random number of keys, I got ~7), you will wind up with about 10 keys. This will give you, on average, less than 1 strength booster. That is far from a steady source. If you want to actually use these boosters, chances are you must spend gems.

Lane.3410:

Lastly, boosters give a 1 hour combat buff. A recipe is a permanent addition.

No particular disagreements here, though I could argue having the recipe right now is inconsequential. The starcake’s ingredients currently cost 1.3g (for 2), while buying one costs 35 silver. In the future, it will likely continue to be inconsequential: due to the free market, the price will likely hit an equilibrium where the cost to buy ~ cost of materials.

Lane.3410:

What they should have done was added the recipe to regular dragon coffers with a reduced drop rate and/or made them tradeable.

That’s your opinion, and that is fine.

I don’t even mean to attack the boosters – I have no problem with them! I only want consistency from the people railing against certain aspects of the game. I dislike arguments being hidden behind a false wall of principles, and that’s what this is.

I’d venture a guess that the starcakes themselves are expensive enough to prevent many players from using them casually. In WvW, it’s not even the “best” food! It is much weaker in WvW than many other foods – lemongrass comes to mind, as well as saffron bread. This is inconsequential at best, and my point with the boosters is that there is no “precedent” that it is setting either.

This’ll be forgotten in a few weeks.

AntiGw.9367:

This gives those who spend money no advantage, because there are tons of those Starcakes on trading post. You can buy as many as you like.

Except you can only buy the cakes from people who spent money for the recipe, which to me is a clear advantage in favor of those who bought Rich Dragon Coffers.

I really don’t know any other way to say it. What’s stopping them from next time putting in an account bound recipe for tailors that makes cloaks? (Oh wait, then it’d only be vanity, lol. -_-) Those who spend money (and are lucky with RNG) get the recipe first and will make a substantial profit being part of a small percentage of gem-buying players selling them. I’m fairly certain the first people to receive the Starcake recipe made a tidy little sum before it was handed out to every RDC buyer. I’m sorry, but that to me is an advantage.

Purchasing from the gem store should never result in something you can turn around for profit in the TP. That is my stance and it’s not going to change.

Ah yes, selling something for 30s that costs 40s+ to make generate a massive profit.
Oh wait..

lordkrall.7241:

Ah yes, selling something for 30s that costs 40s+ to make generate a massive profit.
Oh wait..

yes btw all the way!

Lane.3410:

I really don’t know any other way to say it. What’s stopping them from next time putting in an account bound recipe for tailors that makes cloaks? (Oh wait, then it’d only be vanity, lol. -_-) Those who spend money (and are lucky with RNG) get the recipe first and will make a substantial profit being part of a small percentage of gem-buying players selling them. I’m fairly certain the first people to receive the Starcake recipe made a tidy little sum before it was handed out to every RDC buyer. I’m sorry, but that to me is an advantage.

Due to the way the GW2 economy works, the Starcake is not an issue.

Your tailor example is a bad comparison. They could put in a recipe that makes a tailor item that is similar to what everyone can already make – this is a valid comparison. And yes, it would be completely fine for them to do so.

Lane.3410:

Purchasing from the gem store should never result in something you can turn around for profit in the TP. That is my stance and it’s not going to change.

You mean like minis? Which you could sell from the beginning?

There’s nothing wrong with making gold from buying gems. Wait, isn’t that how the store was supposed to work since launch?

Saw the requirements and loled. Really expensive. I’d never use that. Better using other stuff that focuses only on 1 or 2 stats… in the sum it might be more if you add the numbers of the 2 stats from some other food and then the numbesr of the Dragon’s Revelry… but then again some stats really might be useless for you. So it’s only good for having 3-4 with smaller numbers… which should equal the 1-2 stats higher increased from some other food.

Lane.3410:

Purchasing from the gem store should never result in something you can turn around for profit in the TP. That is my stance and it’s not going to change.

Have you looked at the prices of the starcake at all, and compared them against the cost to craft? Have you looked at these figures for many of the other items in the game?

Most people, if anything, are upset about how most crafted items are sold below cost of materials. The cause of this effect is because many players regard their gathered items as “free”, and will happy craft an item first before selling it.

It’s not even a good consumable…

AntiGw.9367:

You mean like minis? Which you could sell from the beginning?

There’s nothing wrong with making gold from buying gems. Wait, isn’t that how the store was supposed to work since launch?

I don’t deal with minis at all, so I am admittedly oblivious to most things regarding them. I assumed the same minis that can be bought in packs from the gem store were also available in the game somehow.

If that’s not the case then all I can say is I’m sorely disappointed that it appears recipes will now be included as gem store exclusives. This is exactly why I stayed away from minis because I am a completionist and I didn’t want to be forced to buy from the gem store to maintain my collections. Had gem-store-only recipes been going on from the beginning (like minis) I wouldn’t have leveled any crafting at all. It would have saved both my finances and my OCD. :P

As far as the gem exchange, that’s something that also benefits players who don’t spend RL $ in the gem store by keeping the conversion rate low(er).

LFk.1408:

Have you looked at the prices of the starcake at all, and compared them against the cost to craft?

Most people, if anything, are upset about how most crafted items are sold below cost of materials.

Enough to know that saffron spiked sharply. Prior to that was making it a loss?

Unfortunately, we won’t know how the Starcake recipe would have played out if it’d been in the RDCs from the start. Like most new things, I still suspect the first few to obtain the recipe would have made bank on it just like what happens with literally everything else in the game. Plus, the recipe was retroactively given to 100% of the players who purchased RDCs, so the recipe may have been intended to be rarer than it is.