Guild Wars 2

On a side note, I got 1c from every chest I’ve opened.
Of course in-game gold is not something you open a chest for, but 1c is a bit ridiculous on it’s own.
Is it a bug?

I thought this update would be a lot of fun. But it seems like my options for getting the cool new weapon and armor skins are either:

1. spend $200 on gems and hope I get lucky
or
2. Spend 300g to craft the mini legendary that is the Halloween weapons.

The event chain is bugged so I can’t do that either. If I had known this event was going to be… grind 24/7 for a week straight for a slim chance at being able to get 1 item I wouldn’t have even logged in.

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Oh look, there goes the price of greatswords hitting 60g.

You nailed the issue on the head btw, thank you for supporting our argument – the supply is pathetically low.

I do have to agree that it seems A-net took an amazing opportunity for every1 to just have fun and kinda hurt it a bit..the weapons are, as you said, mini legendaries…And the thing that really gets to me, is the items/chest items do not have options for all weapons..meaning a lot of specs get rather kitten left behind

Seems like a ton of gold dumping and grinding..still love the halloween stuff and it is fun..but…coulda been soooooo much more

i spent 30$ they wont see a dime from me anymore, i hope Anet can buy something pretty for my only and last 30$ they will see.

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Fact is players are succumbed to market forces, just like in the RL, when we are supposed to have fun in this game.

Rich exploiting the poor and the unknowing, to get richer and make the poor work harder.

There is a certain degree how this have to be allowed to make the market work, but the trend is worrying.
If this continues, i don’t know whether i should continue playing or not.

Yeah definately, and don’t forget the amazing looking halloween cash shop costumes that are TOWN only.

I want to use Phantom Hood so bad, but it’s useless as town clothes. I’d spend 1000 gems for it if I could skin my gear with it.

It’s like they don’t WANT me to spend my gems…

low chances? okay. ridiculous chances? not okay.

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Again, while you are no doubt honest in your figures, this analysis does not change one key fact:

The players who took initiative and dumped gold/cash into keys are the ones responsible for these items existing. Yet many in that group will go unrewarded.

The point is not the availability or after-market cost of the skins, but the system for distribution that led to a great many people feeling cheated and misled while those who did not participate in the unlocking process are rewarded with a cheap, guaranteed transaction.

All this means is: Less people will be interested in unlocking Black Lion Chests in the future. You can debate if that is a good thing or not, but my guess is Anet wants to keep selling keys and keeping excitement in their product high. To that end, the handling of the skin aspect of this event was a misstep.

They had the opportunity for people to forget the huge rampat botting problem, loads of bugs, lack of feedback about whats going on and they blew it away im really dissapointed about this and of course i spent $ (30$) but they wont see not even a dime from me anymore.

GJ and well done Anet.

I’m not disappointed by the costume brawls. They rock!

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Oh look, there goes the price of greatswords hitting 60g.

You nailed the issue on the head btw, thank you for supporting our argument – the supply is pathetically low.

The greatsaw did not spike to 60 at any time during the past 15 minutes. I’ve been monitoring it. It went 55—>56—>54—>55. It is currently 55. Nice exaggeration on your part though, please continue.

Solirus.1754:

Whether or not people chose to spend money or not is irrelevant, but I expect people to defend bad decisions in every game, so it’s no surprise there are people in this topic actually behind ArenaNet on this.

The fact is that they deliberately misled their player base so that they could rake in more cash. I didn’t want to believe it. I thought ArenaNet was above things like this. They never tell you how pitifully low your chances are of getting an item, and make a big fuss out of advertising the skins.

Yes, the event itself is fun outside of weapon skins, but why take the time to design weapon skins that 95% of the playerbase will never see or use? The low drop rate of BLC skins combined with the ABSURD requirements for crafted weapon skins (see my post on the subject) makes absolutely no sense to me. This game is 2 months old. Very, very, VERY few people have upwards of 100g or more to spend on a single weapon skin and it will stay that way for a very long time.

I’m behind people being wise with their money, not reading “chance” and immediately thinking Oh, it will be me! Losing is for other people

The only people who got deliberately misled are those that can’t read at all. I mean, I didn’t get misled, and I know other people who didn’t get misled? Are just just super intelligent? Or are other people just dumb? Come on. They didn’t even make a big fuss about advertising the skins; there were like 2 forum posts, and two splash screen arts. Oh wow! That must have taken 2 minutes.

And 100% of players will see the skins ..cause some people got those skins, and they’ll be in the game world.

I’ve opened dozens of chests and gotten nothing (aside from a huge stock of the regular chest drops). Other people have opened far, far more than myself and been denied any of the skins. That is where the issue begins. If this was a 10-20% drop rate, there wouldn’t be an outcry aside from extremely unlucky players. RNG shouldn’t be allowed to be this bad when RMT is involved.

To those who’re crying out that the items are meant to be rare, yes, that’s true. A year from now these will be rare, especially if ANet decides to release new designs each year instead of recycling old rewards (which, from experience in GW1, seems quite likely). As time goes by these will become more and more rare of their own accord. For those of us here now, supporting the game from the beginning, making it this rare off the bat is ridiculous.

I understand why people would be angry that they didn’t get the items they wanted although Arena Net should not have to reimburse anyone for anything. It was known that the odds of receiving the most desirable items were by chance. It’s up to the player to decide if they want to purchase keys to use on the chests.

I’m very disappointed with the chests. Between my wife and I we spent $75.00 on keys and got two shoulder pieces (1 gold value!?).

I’d expect this kind of player treatment from some of the other F2P games, but not from ArenaNet.

You should consider giving a refund (points) for all key purchases to ensure to keep the respect of your player-base.

I bought enough gems prior for about 15 keys, And thought id give it a shot to get some skins. I read threads about its bad drop rate, then just bought the costumes xD. dont really regret it, had bad luck with lottery in games before heart goes out for you people with 100+ and nothing to show for it.

People can accept low droprates on in-game items a lot better than on things they paid real money with.
It was foolish to believe people wouldn’t get upset over spending real money in return for droprates as low as dungeon drops or worse…

Any game of chance should mention the odds of winning, they messed up there as well.

I understand some of the arguments defending this whole issue. Not all, just some

But one thing should be very very clear, seeing the number of posts about this very thing, this fast:
this is bad publicity, very bad publicity.

The fact there already was an official response points that out too. They don’t want so much disappointed customers.
It might have gained them a lot of money over this event, they just ruined their future income of events to come. By a large margin.

Bad publicity, and bad business in the long run.

And this is even completely regardless of who is right and who is wrong.
When the larger part of your customers is angry, they are always right in an economical sense.

I honestly don’t see how a-lot of the people QQing are they aren’t having fun because they got “ripped off” by the BLC, which is a minuscule thing that they added as fluff imo, and yet there is an entire event focused around the return of mad King Thorn going on and so many things to do other then gamble on getting shiny item skins… I’m sure if they wanted the majority of the “fun” of the event being focused around the items they would have called it “Shadow of the Black Lion Trading company”, Rather then “Shadow of the Mad King”.

I can understand why ANet made it a chance to get a Halloween item from a chest – if it were guaranteed then those people with a whole bunch of keys would have access to a ludicrous amount of stuff. However, there are far better ways of going about this than just a RNG roll on every single chest.

That was either stupid, greedy or thoughtless on ANet’s part. It shows a lack of foresight and consideration for those who, for sure, would spend quite a lot of real money and not receive a kitten thing in return. You don’t have to be some kind of mathematical genius to run those numbers.

If sticking with the chest idea, they could have had a guaranteed item (and only 1) in the first ‘n’ chests opened, with diminishing returns thereafter to prevent individuals from a) getting stupid amounts of items and b) spending too much of their own real money. But that takes more coding effort than ‘roll RNG’.

I had doubts about whether or not to buy some keys due to their ‘a chance’ posts. I don’t have any doubts any more. This was supposed to be a fun, happy event. IMO, somebody needs a slap for this.

Kimbald.2697:

People can accept low droprates on in-game items a lot better than on things they paid real money with.
It was foolish to believe people wouldn’t get upset over spending real money in return for droprates as low as dungeon drops or worse…

Any game of chance should mention the odds of winning, they messed up there as well.

I understand some of the arguments defending this whole issue. Not all, just some

But one thing should be very very clear, seeing the number of posts about this very thing, this fast:
this is bad publicity, very bad publicity.

The fact there already was an official response points that out too. They don’t want so much disappointed customers.
It might have gained them a lot of money over this event, they just ruined their future income of events to come. By a large margin.

Bad publicity, and bad business in the long run.

And this is even completely regardless of who is right and who is wrong.
When the larger part of your customers is angry, they are always right in an economical sense.

This ^

Debate it all you want, but people are upset and wallets WILL tighten. If Anet wanted to teach a lesson in personal responsibility and restraint, then well played. If they want to make money from GW2 events in the future, they may want to rethink things.

Look, I get that some people got kittened by the RNG. That happens in all games.

With the exception of the 2 items used by the largest number of classes, these items are remarkably low in cost for items that were released mere hours ago. In most mmo’s I’ve played (Runescape, WoW, War, EvE), whenever something is released, it is massively overpriced initially.

Oct 23, 1:52pm PST, greatsaw available for 43 gold. Screenshot taken if someone wants to see it. The price of these items is simply too volatile atm, and is massivley inflated.

So, Judging by the less volatile items, The single handed chainsaw, for instance, which has dropped from 12 gold to 8 gold, the items aren’t that rare. And the speculators for the greatsword will get bored as no one buys their product over the next few days.

My prediction is that the greatsword will stabilize at 25g within 1 to 1.5 weeks, roughly the same level of say the charrzooka.

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

Well said.

There was nothing, not a scrap of info in the advertising and blogging leading up to this event, that told people the chance of getting a holiday item would be so dreadfully low. If people are using up scores of keys and coming up blank, they have every right to feel angry and even deceived.

I personally haven’t given them a cent apart from the box price and never will, because the game is so obviously a Korean-style RNG money sponge and I won’t reward anyone for that. It was masterfully done; I have to give them that. The early game really does deliver some cool new ideas about how these games could (and maybe even should) work. It’s not until you get to the end that you realize what the game really is.

That’s why I’m puzzled over this holiday key fiasco. It’s such a blatant money grab, which is at odds with the much more subtle way they normally reach for your wallet.

People who have played MMOs for a long time know what it looks like when holiday events are actually about fun holiday times. If there are cool appearance items to be had then they are obtained by doing quest chains and such. This… is not that. This is a shameless grab for your wallet. It is too blatant to be anything else.

Some will disagree. Some will argue just because they like to. I care not. The rest of you will know better than to give Anet a single cent more in the future. Do not reward their behavior. Make your feelings known by denying them what they want from you.

I think this symbolizes the poor souls that dig deep into their pockets and jam their keys into chests, longing for their bounties to come.

I honestly don’t know how anyone is coming away surprised at this. Seriously, Anet is as greedy as any other gaming company out there, what the hell makes you think otherwise? This was a cash grab plain and simple and if you didn’t see it as much, shame on YOU. The fact they spent their development time on implementing something that’s real purpose is to make money, rather than improving the game for the long haul (i.e. making real improvements to WvW and other areas) should tell you where the game is headed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this game has not been well developed post launch.

Wow, lots of people who never played an MMO before, hm?

If the special items are too common, people complain because they don’t feel “special” when everyone has a bunch.

If the special items are too rare, people complain because they can’t get them.

If the special items are not bound, people complain because they cost too much on the TP.

If the special items are bound, people complain because they can’t buy/sell them on the TP.

If the special items are only found in game, people complain because they have to go out and do stuff to get them.

If the special items are sold through a cash shop, people complain because they don’t want to pay for them, they should be available in game.

Basically, no matter what happens, people complain.

I like the event. They really put in a lot of work into it from what I can tell, more than most companies do for their games. It’s right up there with the old Ultima Online holiday theme shards. BUT the black lion chest fiasco somewhat sours it for me. Preying on customers through virtual gambling is pretty low.

12.000 gems, 1000 used on costume, rest on keys. Not a single skin.. sure, I’m fine with slim chances, but really?!

Oreoz.2573:

Sheesh. Bunch of Whiners.

Sure I spent about 30 dollars myself and got no skins but all these boosters and T-mute stones and BL picks and axes and 3 BL salvaging kits…….ya I’ll be rewarded in the long run

I’ll try one more time after this paycheck but if no bueno than so be it.

Anet has to make money somehow folks. It IS a free 2 play game. Did some of you forget that?

It’s all luck. A random draw.

You weren’t lucky. I’ll go call you a waaaaaambulance.

Anet could have dumped the weapon skins on the gemstore and still make money because demand is so high for them. Your argument for keeping RNG in the game, especially for a Halloween event, is moot.

Yeah I spent $20.00 on keys tonight. As I figured the items that I wanted may not have a high drop rate. But being as it is Halloween, that Halloween themed skins would drop. I was so wrong.

Interesting to note:

It’s taken the thread about precursors RNG about 3 weeks to reach 12 pages.

This thread reached 8 pages in less than 10 hours.

Sanarian.9614:

Oreoz.2573:

oh sure,

8 pages on the forum, which, if you think about it, is actually 4 pages if you don’t include repeat posters arguing with one another……

Ya, that’s the large part of the consumer base.

Puh-lease -____-

I was unlucky.
You were unlucky
We were all unlucky

“cry me a river…..”

Not everyone uses the forums, that should be obvious to anyone here, most people find it easier to avoid forums (for obvious reasons, if you hadn’t noticed). Not everyone will be willing to voice their outrage, especially considering there are people like you who can’t make a constructive argument and revert to throwing insults. Don’t assume that all players automatically dash to the forums when they’re upset.

Hard to make a constructive argument when they’re shouldn’t be an argument in the first place. Or rather when there really isn’t one either.

Arenanet needs to make money as their game is F2P.
The weapon skins are a small part of this DLC, the rest being new content to play through and various bug fixes and quality of life additions.

People are making the skins out to be their sole dependent on whether or not they enjoy this patch.

That is stupid.

obviously the skins will be rare. Regardless of whether or not Anet let us in on the odds, this was going to be and currently is a fact.

People are whining and blowing things out of proportion. Another reason why someone might shy away from the forums.

That is stupid.

It’s like asking the casino for a refund because you lost.

They will laugh in your face.

Just like I’m laughing at everyone who demands a refund from Anet.

So again I say…… puh-lease.

Hardly an argument to be had here.

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Oh look, there goes the price of greatswords hitting 60g.

You nailed the issue on the head btw, thank you for supporting our argument – the supply is pathetically low.

The greatsaw did not spike to 60 at any time during the past 15 minutes. I’ve been monitoring it. It went 55—>56—>54—>55. It is currently 55. Nice exaggeration on your part though, please continue.

Not for the 15 minutes you were looking at. Look at the listing prices of the Greatsword.

But 55 gold, my, that is a bigggggggggggggggg difference /sarcasm.

Once again, thank you for supporting our argument that the halloween weapon skins are ill-conceived.

Eh, all that this really demonstrates, that there is really no true reason to purchase Black Lion Chests, as for the money that you are willing to spend on these things, you’d get a much better deal from other things in the Gem Store, I dropped cash, hoping that in good faith Anet would, as they have led people to believe “care more” about their customers.

However, for the cost of a key, you get a tonic, which is cool, I like tonics, fun comes in many forms.

You get a “Black Lion” thing, pick, sickle, axe, salvage kit, or other thing from the gem store, like merchant or trader,

And you get a random boost, some not available for purchase on the gem store.

In all actuality what should be garnered from these events during Halloween is don’t do it, don’t spend the money on the keys, they are worthless in most regards. I could go on and on with valid points, or make believe points, but no one cares, this is a forum, it has 8 pages already, who read all of those posts? Exactly, no one.

In reality what happened is unfortunate to the people that bought things expecting a nice drop rate that would reward their perception of what they thought the drop rate was, in reality it was not on par with what they expected. No where did ANet say THIS IS THE DROP RATE, people only assumed that ANet would set the drop rate to be something more acceptable.

RNG, Gambling, whatever you want to blame it on, you spend money, like I did, expecting something, you did not receive what you expected, hence the anger. Black Lion Chests are gambling against your computer clock or the server clock, (based on how they have RNG setup) and that is it. Deal with it.

I will deal with it by not spending any more money in the gem store. I learned my lesson, I hope other people learn their lesson and take action that they feel is appropriate to them.

Theres actually good items in those chests? WOW ive opened well over 50 of them and destroyed most of the crap in them because the bag space is worth more than 90% of the items Ive gotten from them. My advice to anyone thinking about opening a chest? open 1 and the 1st wiff you get of the pile of crap you get will tell you everything you need to know.

Oreoz.2573:

Sanarian.9614:

Oreoz.2573:

oh sure,

8 pages on the forum, which, if you think about it, is actually 4 pages if you don’t include repeat posters arguing with one another……

Ya, that’s the large part of the consumer base.

Puh-lease -____-

I was unlucky.
You were unlucky
We were all unlucky

“cry me a river…..”

Not everyone uses the forums, that should be obvious to anyone here, most people find it easier to avoid forums (for obvious reasons, if you hadn’t noticed). Not everyone will be willing to voice their outrage, especially considering there are people like you who can’t make a constructive argument and revert to throwing insults. Don’t assume that all players automatically dash to the forums when they’re upset.

Hard to make a constructive argument when they’re shouldn’t be an argument in the first place. Or rather when there really isn’t one either.

Arenanet needs to make money as their game is F2P.
The weapon skins are a small part of this DLC, the rest being new content to play through and various bug fixes and quality of life additions.

People are making the skins out to be their sole dependent on whether or not they enjoy this patch.

That is stupid.

obviously the skins will be rare. Regardless of whether or not Anet let us in on the odds, this was going to be and currently is a fact.

People are whining and blowing things out of proportion. Another reason why someone might shy away from the forums.

That is stupid.

It’s like asking the casino for a refund because you lost.

They will laugh in your face.

Just like I’m laughing at everyone who demands a refund from Anet.

So again I say…… puh-lease.

Hardly an argument to be had here.

The argument is:

Anet is using BLCs to dole out skins and presumably other items in the future.

This event has shown that this system creates backlash.

That backlash will likely mean less enthusiasm for unlocking BLCs.

Is that a good policy for Anet, and is it consistent with their mission statement and design philosophy?

I’m a bit dissapointed that the general impression I’ve gotten of the update is “try this fun event! Buy this special item from the gem store to participate!” “Buy this special halloween item!” “Buy the chance to find something cool!” “Pay to participate in new content!”

The big appeal of GW to me is that once you’ve bought the game you don’t have to keep paying out through a subscription and/or pay to play items from an in-game shop, but it seems that’s gone out the window for halloween.

Even the minis just aren’t as appealing when you just have to pony up the cash and have them dropped in your lap. Mini collecting is one of my favourite parts of GW1. I’ve tried every single year for a mini polar bear, I always, always get the celestial minis even if I have to use every character I’ve got to gather lunar fortunes and I’ve been trying desperately for the halloween ones every year (tricker because they’re prizes in real world art contests and art is not my strong point). I was really looking forward to doing the same in GW2 but while I probably will get them if I have the money it’s hugely dissapointing to find that there is no sense of having earned them.

The whole thing just feels like “Yay! Halloween! Give us cash!”

I’ll summarize my feelings with an image:
http://i.imgur.com/jiARz.jpg

I put $20 into a card for this event. I’ve loved GW1 and 2 and want to support ANet for all the great work that they do. The scavenger hunt was awesome, and the environmental changes show great care, but the bait+switch way the Black Lion Chests were marketed befits a company with far less street-cred than Arenanet; who have always been fan-pleasers. I don’t think anybody who purchased keys with money feels anything other than ripped off, which is something I have never felt before with regards to the Guild Wars series.

People like to say “Hah! Suckers!” and honestly I do feel like a sucker. But I knew full well going in that $20 for keys in a video game wasn’t going to be worth the money in a pure monetary sense. But I wanted to support Arenanet and maybe get a few aesthetic goodies for that support. Instead I feel scammed. I went in with low expectations regarding the droprates, but I figured surely, twenty US dollars can give me more than a 1% chance at getting some stupid skin for my stupid weapons.

It’s my fault. They never said what the % was. They never said that you could open hundreds of chests and get nothing. But I trusted Arenanet to do better by me than some Korean f2p Lineage II clone. Guild Wars fans feel a sense of entitlement because Arenanet has always upheld a standard of excellence in content/holiday fun. I still have truckloads of candy canes and pumpkin heads in my Xunlai storage and I hardly ever even PARTICIPATED in the Guild Wars 1 stuff. I just accumulated it via osmosis.

I don’t know, I feel pretty bitter, pretty disappointed, and pretty dumb. I don’t think that was the intended effect of the holiday festivities. I love the work they’ve done with Halloween in every way except for this. I think I speak for a lot of “suckers” when I say I will not be purchasing gems again. This just feels icky.

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Oh look, there goes the price of greatswords hitting 60g.

You nailed the issue on the head btw, thank you for supporting our argument – the supply is pathetically low.

The greatsaw did not spike to 60 at any time during the past 15 minutes. I’ve been monitoring it. It went 55—>56—>54—>55. It is currently 55. Nice exaggeration on your part though, please continue.

Not for the 15 minutes you were looking at. Look at the listing prices of the Greatsword.

But 55 gold, my, that is a bigggggggggggggggg difference /sarcasm.

Once again, thank you for supporting our argument that the halloween weapon skins are ill-conceived.

2 Lowest greatsaws are at 52 gold and 41 gold atm. Keep talking mister sarcasm.

source: http://imgur.com/NfpDa

Yeah sadly I’m going to have to agree. Was really disappointed.

Random lottery items I can’t stand. If you’ve read the thread already, you’ll see what I mean. People have wasted tons of money and got nothing. As well, they have another random lottery item, the Treat Bag in the gem store. A random chance at one of those items. I can’t stand that. I hate lottery stuff. And time limits on items. Dear god I can’t tell you how much that screams free to play.

Then of course, the event is bugged. So can’t even do that. And to make it even better, I have to go farm Candy Corn to use a scanner that I didn’t even know was bugged. So there’s a bunch of wasted time. As well, there is no Devil Horns in the gem store for free. They don’t exist. Then for costume brawls, they put the costumes/tonics in the gem store as well. And again, no armor skins just town clothing that we can’t transmute.

And not Halloween related, but patch related still, we get these new Orbs for finishing our Personal Story, and the vendor doesn’t even exist. So that was pretty much pointless.

All in all, just very disappointed in this patch/event. Seems to be nothing more than a money grab, as pretty much everything is in the gem store with lottery on top of that. GW1 events were much better than this, as everything was available for you and you didn’t feel forced to use the cash shop.

All this does is remind of TF2.

People say they won’t spend but I bet you they will.

moderation action: became off topic

TravisTrout.6803:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

Well said.

There was nothing, not a scrap of info in the advertising and blogging leading up to this event, that told people the chance of getting a holiday item would be so dreadfully low. If people are using up scores of keys and coming up blank, they have every right to feel angry and even deceived.

I personally haven’t given them a cent apart from the box price and never will, because the game is so obviously a Korean-style RNG money sponge and I won’t reward anyone for that. It was masterfully done; I have to give them that. The early game really does deliver some cool new ideas about how these games could (and maybe even should) work. It’s not until you get to the end that you realize what the game really is.

That’s why I’m puzzled over this holiday key fiasco. It’s such a blatant money grab, which is at odds with the much more subtle way they normally reach for your wallet.

People who have played MMOs for a long time know what it looks like when holiday events are actually about fun holiday times. If there are cool appearance items to be had then they are obtained by doing quest chains and such. This… is not that. This is a shameless grab for your wallet. It is too blatant to be anything else.

Some will disagree. Some will argue just because they like to. I care not. The rest of you will know better than to give Anet a single cent more in the future. Do not reward their behavior. Make your feelings known by denying them what they want from you.

This

I’ve had my say, and the above sums my final feeling about the BLC part of this event.
GW2 is still my prime time game though it’s losing my interest fast.
We as players appreciate your hard work and respect Anet as a business entity.

But we do not want to have an RNG fun and market greed driven end game. Thanks!

Yeah i’m with a lot of others here, i spend all my gold on a bunch of keys in the hope to get a nice skin and with the 1 key i already had from the story quest i got 1, yet from the 20 i actully bought i got none.

20 purhased keys and not a single 1!, sorry Anet but that is just wrong. In cash terms that’s almost £20 worth of gems.

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

Pikafan.3792:

PotatoOverdose.6583:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

The chance isn’t aggressively small if most of the items can currently be bought for less than 10 gold, especially given how everyone seems to want these items and thus the demand is inflated.

Only 1 Item, the greatsword, costs significantly more than that (55 gold). People wanted a chainsaw greatsword. That want overcame their restraint, and many of them spent with their credit cards to buy keys. That’s a lack of responsibility.

Every single other weapon costs about as much as a decent skinned exotic in terms of gold. Every. Single. One.

Its a classic case of demand outpacing supply, in this case for one particular item. This led to many making bad decisions. We can pity them, but it is no one elses fault but their own.

In the meantime, the scythe staff skin is currently going for 40g, I am sure those “10g” and below items were skins people don’t want, or simply don’t exist. But thank you for skewing one small fact to try and suit your flawed portrayal of a larger picture.

Current Prices (1:39 am October 23):
The Chain sword (one handed) is 8 gold (and falling). No one wants a chainsaw sword. Nope. No one.
The Rifle is 5 gold.
The Shield is 20 gold.
The dagger is 8 gold. No dagger thiefs out there, mhmmm.
All 9 of the shoulder pads (3 of light, medium, and heavy) are all worth 5-10 gold. No one wants spikey skull shoulder pads. Nope, no one.

Yup, I REALLY skewed it. Those drops must be SO rare, to be worth less than typical “cool skinned” exotics.

Reality is this: The greatsword is used by Guardians, Mesmers, Warriors, and Rangers. 3 Of those classes have very popular greatsword builds.

Staves are also used by Necros,Guardians, Mesmers, and Elementalist. Again, higher demand.

Basic supply and demand. The drops are fine, judging by market prices of say…the one handed chainsaw. Demand is skewed toward the items used by most classes. Common sense.

Oh look, there goes the price of greatswords hitting 60g.

You nailed the issue on the head btw, thank you for supporting our argument – the supply is pathetically low.

The greatsaw did not spike to 60 at any time during the past 15 minutes. I’ve been monitoring it. It went 55—>56—>54—>55. It is currently 55. Nice exaggeration on your part though, please continue.

Not for the 15 minutes you were looking at. Look at the listing prices of the Greatsword.

But 55 gold, my, that is a bigggggggggggggggg difference /sarcasm.

Once again, thank you for supporting our argument that the halloween weapon skins are ill-conceived.

2 Lowest greatsaws are at 52 gold and 41 gold atm. Keep talking mister sarcasm.

source: http://imgur.com/NfpDa

So there was 1 person who undercut everyone else by 10 gold. I should thank that person, not Anet.

Once again, thank you for supporting our argument, that the players have to band together to play the system.

Oh wait, its the same players who have to purchase off the Gem Store first. Sorry but no dice. Anet still wins woooo /fanboyism

Oreoz.2573:

Starhawk.2958:

I honestly don’t know how anyone is coming away surprised at this. Seriously, Anet is as greedy as any other gaming company out there, what the hell makes you think otherwise? This was a cash grab plain and simple and if you didn’t see it as much, shame on YOU. The fact they spent their development time on implementing something that’s real purpose is to make money, rather than improving the game for the long haul (i.e. making real improvements to WvW and other areas) should tell you where the game is headed. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this game has not been well developed post launch.

You didn’t read the patch notes much, didya?

Actually I read them quite thoroughly, did you? Or did you just see a long list of stuff and say, ‘wow, this is a big and significant patch!’ They dumped a bunch of content into the game that is by and large temporary and made little headway into fixing the 100’s of known and reported issues with the classes. WvW got a nice exploit fix but the core issues with that were untouched. My point still stands, fluff and no substance. Go back and reread before you open your hole.

For as much as everyone also wants to point and laugh at people spending money in this thread, I think the real issue is the trust that was lost.

doodlebear.2085:

Oreoz.2573:

spencerharrison.8136:

Oreoz.2573:

spencerharrison.8136:

Oreoz.2573:

oh sure,

8 pages on the forum, which, if you think about it, is actually 4 pages if you don’t include repeat posters arguing with one another……

Ya, that’s the large part of the consumer base.

Puh-lease -____-

I was unlucky.
You were unlucky
We were all unlucky

“cry me a river…..”

No.

Fine. Then you go and ask every single player in the game how they feel.

I’ll wait here.

I was referring to crying you a river – not polling players.

Ah, i see. Well in the future please be more specific while I make crybabies feel like even bigger fools than they already think they are.

:)

Get ready for an infraction, you are clearly flaming.

TravisTrout.6803:

spencerharrison.8136:

To the posters insulting people who bought keys and expected an item:

We aren’t talking about the US economy or housing market. We’re talking about a stupid video game where people want to run around with a pumpkin rifle. Based on colorful advertising and good faith, a lot of people paid some money with the understanding that doing so would give them a “chance” at those items.

That “chance” is being proven to be aggressively small. Different people came into this with different expectations, but I do think its safe to say that the cost of keys, coupled with the tiny percent chance of a skin, equates to a more cynical policy than fans of Anet anticipated.

Fair enough. Lesson learned. Personal responsibility also means licking your wounds and moving on. Those that feel they got misled, will be less likely to give Anet cash like that on impulse.

In my opinion, that’s bad business for Anet, and less fun for the players who weren’t so lucky. It didn’t have to be that way, and I don’t think there is ANY harm in lambasting Anet for this mess. They can, and should do better by their players.

Well said.

There was nothing, not a scrap of info in the advertising and blogging leading up to this event, that told people the chance of getting a holiday item would be so dreadfully low. If people are using up scores of keys and coming up blank, they have every right to feel angry and even deceived.

I personally haven’t given them a cent apart from the box price and never will, because the game is so obviously a Korean-style RNG money sponge and I won’t reward anyone for that. It was masterfully done; I have to give them that. The early game really does deliver some cool new ideas about how these games could (and maybe even should) work. It’s not until you get to the end that you realize what the game really is.

That’s why I’m puzzled over this holiday key fiasco. It’s such a blatant money grab, which is at odds with the much more subtle way they normally reach for your wallet.

People who have played MMOs for a long time know what it looks like when holiday events are actually about fun holiday times. If there are cool appearance items to be had then they are obtained by doing quest chains and such. This… is not that. This is a shameless grab for your wallet. It is too blatant to be anything else.

Some will disagree. Some will argue just because they like to. I care not. The rest of you will know better than to give Anet a single cent more in the future. Do not reward their behavior. Make your feelings known by denying them what they want from you.

This

I’ve had my say, and the above sums my final feeling about the BLC part of this event.
GW2 is still my prime time game though it’s losing my interest fast.
We as players appreciate your hard work and respect Anet as a business entity.

But we do not want to have an RNG fun and market greed driven end game. Thanks!

Allow me to sum up my fear of infractions for you.

goes to kitchen. Proceeds to make sandwich

And no i’m not flaming. Not even sure really what that means……….

If anything I’m just astounded that people are THIS angry that they lost out.

And I’ll bet more than half of those people haven’t even made an effort to look at the rest of the content that was added and will be added. Nope. Probably none of them actually.

You people have clearly never played F2P games in the past where they do this REGULARLY.

For the record you guys, the drop rate of these things isn’t entirely horrendous. Is it good? No, of course it isn’t, it’s designed to encourage gamblers to drop IRL money into black lion keys because the human mind often likes to exaggerate (greatly) the idea that it’s going to win something.

I like to call it the “just one more” theory. The human brain tends to immediately function on a basis that “My luck HAS to get better at some point! Maybe it’ll be the next box I open!”

Companies like Perfect World Entertainment have taken this utter addiction to gambling to the max by installing packs after packs after packs, and the drop rates for their ridiculous nonsensical packs that drop items just as useless as reskins are even worse than the drop rates for these special skins.

At the end of the day, if you’ve ever played a game like that before, and you REALLY want a drop from the boxes, you’re going to know better than to open a bunch of BLCs and hope to get rewarded. (If you go into opening those with anything other than “won’t get anything” expectations then yes, you’re going to get disappointed) Instead you’re going to take that money and drop it into buying the item outright from the TP where it’s a 100% guarantee that the money you’ve dropped in is going to be worth it.

Basically, this isn’t ArenaNet scamming anybody.

This is your own brain scamming you by telling you that it would be cheaper to buy the keys and open a hundred boxes because IF you win, then you just saved a HUGE amount of money. Your brain doesn’t tend to consider the fact that you aren’t going to win, because it’s too busy being blinded by the excitement of winning the lottery and making a huge profit while doing so.

Which is why I was happy to drop in my saved up 35 gold that I had been stashing away for goodness only knows what into the TP to come away with the Scythe skin, and I don’t feel jipped in the least. PWE taught me well.

i ahve to be extremely lucky then : / i guess thats the RNG for you. I opened 70 chests got 1 of each of the shoulders, the one handed sword skin, and 2 scythes which made me get like a 10g profit. My first 50 chests i got absolutely nothing then i got 2-3 in a row with items.