Guild Wars 2

Is the guild wars 2 gold to gems system fair?

Davidm.2419:

Is the guild wars 2 gold to gems system fair?

Define what you mean by fair, plz.

~EW

Absolutely!

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Davidm.2419:

Is the guild wars 2 gold to gems system fair?

Define what you mean by fair, plz.

~EW

I just checked the posting history. It’s a series of one time questions with no follow up responses or clarifications, so it’s unlikely he’ll respond back to clarify what he meant.
________________

Assuming the question is serious and the OP will come back to read this thread I’ll answer it as: yes it is fair. It’s available to all and since it is exchanging gold and gems between players as a type of trade it’s not causing inflation by creating gold or gems out of thin air. All gold is created through normal gameplay and is traded through the exchange to purchase gems from players who buy gems with real money.

There is a pool of gems and a pool of gold. (It was originally ANet who put gold and gems in the pools to start with before launch). Players buy gems with money, put the gems in the gem pool and pull gold out of the gold pool. Players get gold through gameplay, put gold into the gold pool and pull gems out of the gem pool. The computer keeps tabs of how much gold and gems are in the two pools and sets the prices for each according to a formula.

You open wallet, you drop money, you get SHINY, you dont want SHINY, put SHINY back in and get more SHINY, I LIKE SHINY — not fair unless I get all SHINY, GIMME NOW MY SHINY

I know it’s accepted fact that players are only buying gold or gems that someone else has put into the exchange, but every time I see it posted I wonder if that’s true.

It’s also accepted fact that far more people exchange exchange gold for gems than the other way around – especially when popular items appear in the gem store. And yet in almost 4 years we have never reached a point where there were no gems available.

The material trader NPCs worked that way in GW1 and they would regularly run out of materials if there was high demand (when the HoM calculator came out it was virtually impossible to buy rubies and sapphires because so many people were suddenly making Vabbian armour).

I suspect it’s simply that the exchange rate is based on the volume of trade in each direction – and therefore determined by players – but the actual supply is created as needed.

But unless we do run out at some point, or someone from Anet confirms how it works there’s no way for me to test that theory.

Of course it’s fair, it’s being monitored by Top Men.

Danikat.8537:

But unless we do run out at some point, or someone from Anet confirms how it works there’s no way for me to test that theory.

It’s already been confirmed on many occasions when John Smith explained the system. It’s just that the numbers involved are very, very large. It’s not like there’s just 10,000 gems available, or even a million. Long before the exchange “runs out” of gems, the exchange rate will flip to the point where it’s pretty much useless to exchange currency for gems because it will cost like 5g per gem or something.

Looking at the exchange right now, 1 gem is 65.4 silver, so the exchange rate is already way more unfavorable than at launch or conversion in this direction. But on the other hand, it has become much more valuable to players with money to spend who buy gems or gem cards and exchange them for gold – $20 worth of gems (1600) is currently worth 286 gold.

Most precursors available on the TP would cost $60 or less, except Spark, Zap, Dusk and the Legend. Considering there are players who have spent thousands on a single piece of gear in other games, Legendaries for $120 or less is not a huge deal.

So while there are still more gems being taken out of the exchange than put in, as time goes on I think those numbers are shifting. The information that is hidden from players is the exact number of gems and gold in the exchange. Compared to launch, there may be 20% of the gems left, or it might be 200% more…

Danikat.8537:

I know it’s accepted fact that players are only buying gold or gems that someone else has put into the exchange, but every time I see it posted I wonder if that’s true.

It’s also accepted fact that far more people exchange exchange gold for gems than the other way around – especially when popular items appear in the gem store. And yet in almost 4 years we have never reached a point where there were no gems available.

The material trader NPCs worked that way in GW1 and they would regularly run out of materials if there was high demand (when the HoM calculator came out it was virtually impossible to buy rubies and sapphires because so many people were suddenly making Vabbian armour).

I suspect it’s simply that the exchange rate is based on the volume of trade in each direction – and therefore determined by players – but the actual supply is created as needed.

But unless we do run out at some point, or someone from Anet confirms how it works there’s no way for me to test that theory.

It sure would be nice if the forum search function worked. The information I got about the gold and gem pools, ANet setting it up with a supply and it being kept going by players buying and selling gems for gold, with the computer setting the prices by a formula, was from a blog post back shortly after launch. But good luck finding it now with their borked search function and the forums being “improved” a year or so back so that links are broken.

However I did find this interview from August 2012.

Matt: I know, basically, that players can purchase gems and they can place them up for sale and the gold price will fluctuate and a different amount of players buy those gems. So that’s what I meant in terms of a player-controlled market. I don’t know the specifics of the implementation on that so I can’t really comment.

(NOTE: Full answer provided in follow-up email sent after the interview: ArenaNet will set the initial exchange rate for gems to gold when the servers first open for headstart, but after that the rate will fluctuate based on supply and demand of the players using the Currency Exchange. The gems and gold players get from the Currency Exchange are supplied by other players, not ArenaNet. As supply of gems goes up, the price will go down and vice versa. While we do not expect prices to fluctuate wildly, smart traders will be able to get good deals by watching the exchange rate closely and waiting for it to favor gems or gold, whichever they are looking to purchase.)

Here is the link (and I’m not responsible for any racy pictures on that site). ^^
NY Post.com: GW2 Dev interview. It’s gonna be awesome

There is two possibilities the OP is asking about.

The first is the current exchange rate of roughly 26 gold per 100 gems is high to them. Since the exchange is set up to automatically adjust the exchange rate to reflect the amount of gold Vs gems flowing into the exchange, the setting of the rate can’t be anything but fair. More gems flow out than in, the rate goes up, more flow in than out, rate goes down. It’s impossible for a cartel of players to manipulate it for profit. The real issue is that there are players who understand how to make gold in the game and who have played for a very long time. They may have a pile of gold which they can drop into the exchange for gems when new outfit/glider/pet gets introduced. Now if they are new to the game, nearly 200 gold for an outfit seems pretty high. And that’s because they think the exchange is there as an alternative to buy gems with cash and that’s where they are wrong, more on that later.

The second possibility is the asymmetrical exchange rate. While it costs currently 207g for 800 gems, those 800 gems will only get you 139 gold. That’s due to the exchange also being a gold sink which folds into the true purpose of the exchange.

The exchange is to provide a legit gold buying service. One where you simply can’t get your account stolen, credit card info stolen or gold removed by ANet when they follow the gold when they shut down a gold seller’s account. However to prevent the gold they are selling from upsetting the economy, instead of creating the gold from thin air, they get it from willing players for gems. A chunk of that gold is removed from the game forever while the rest is remains to buy gems from players, players who bought those gems with cash because the exchange rate is so asymmetrical that unless you were holding gems for years, it wouldn’t be advantageous to sell back gems you bought with gold.

And that’s what we have. ANet gets to provide a legit gold buying service for players who don’t mind dropping cash on the game (which is also why there’s always something new/returning/on sale in the gem shop), financed by players who have a lot of earned gold in game.

To answer the OP: Yes, the gem exchange is fair, because it exchanges gem and gold between players. It doesn’t create gold or gems out of thin air.

It doesn’t flood the ingame economy with artificially created gold. Every gold you get from there was obtained by a player by playing the game, and he sold it to the gem exchange for gems. And every gem you get from there was bought by a player with real money with a gem card or in the shop, and he sold it to the gem exchange for gold.
Arenanet only arranges the exchange, they don’t create gold or gems within the exchange.

There is a tax, though. Not all gold that was paid is sold back to the players. 27,75% of the gold is removed during the transactions. I assume this is to prevent gem trading and to have an additional gold sink.

That ratio has increased a bit as the amount of gold held by the exchange has increased over time. It’s now around 67.3% rather than the old 72.25%.

Endless Soul.5178:

Of course it’s fair, it’s being monitored by Top Men.

Not sure if you are throwing out a Raider of the Lost Ark reference or being sarcastic or both.

Fairness is relative.