Guild Wars 2

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free. The astronomical costs of items in games is by design. Why pretend otherwise? They NEED you to pull out your credit card and buy gems or the game goes away. Purchases of the game will only go so far. To keep it running there needs to be a revenue stream.

I can understand why people are upset. To be honest I would rather have no gem store, pay a subscription and have everything earn able in game. But that isn’t happening.

This doesn’t excuse the the obvious problems stated in many other posts. I am just saying, I understand why they do this. Not just why, but why the have to do it.

BloodyNine.7504:

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free. The astronomical costs of items in games is by design. Why pretend otherwise? They NEED you to pull out your credit card and buy gems or the game goes away. Purchases of the game will only go so far. To keep it running there needs to be a revenue stream.

I can understand why people are upset. To be honest I would rather have no gem store, pay a subscription and have everything earn able in game. But that isn’t happening.

This doesn’t excuse the the obvious problems stated in many other posts. I am just saying, I understand why they do this. Not just why, but why the have to do it.

If it’s f2p, how did I just manage to spend $100 for an expansion? F2p means free to play. You can’t play over there without paying.

The people who design those items are not the ones working on the other areas in the game fixing bugs or improving gameplay.

BloodyNine.7504:

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free.

Guess i didn’t pay 45€ for an the HOT then…
I mean it’s not like 45€ is a really really really big price for an expension.
But hey i understand that in order for us to get what we paid for on day one, we have to pay more !

OMG Anet added gem store cosmetic that no one need unless they want to. How dare they profit off of their work.

Bruno.3812:

If it’s f2p, how did I just manage to spend $100 for an expansion? F2p means free to play. You can’t play over there without paying.

You didn’t have to buy the $100 version. I paid $50 for it. Did you get $50 worth of content? I think so. Look at how much you get in other games for $50 bucks. Most times it is a LOT less.

WoW cots $15 bucks a month. Plus the initial cost of 49.99(on sale now though I think)

So the cost of this game is drastically lower. The lights need to stay on somehow. Especially if you want updates and events and fixes. Those require people, who require money. You either pay a subscription, or you pay in other ways. ANET has chosen the gem store.

Do I love everything about this game? Nope. But I play it over other MMO’s that do have a subscription cost.

There should be a balance between skins you can earn in the game and skins you buy in the gemstore. Right now it seems to be tilted in favor of the gemstore.

YaYa.5879:

Guess i didn’t pay 45€ for an the HOT then…
I mean it’s not like 45€ is a really really really big price for an expension.
But hey i understand that in order for us to get what we paid for on day one, we have to pay more !

Have you played NO other games?? I have played console games with about 8 hours of game play that cost me $60

Cost per hour of play in this game is extremely low.

Add glider skins to the game for gem costs is just a slap in the fact to players who are HoT enabled, IMHO.

to use a glider you must have HoT, no F2P account is going to have that. So instead of letting the player base earn these new glider skins via seasonal rewards, we must go route of gems.

Its pathetic and needs to stop.

With all this F2P gemstore nonsense you’d think they’d at least be able to update the gemstore with decent items too like new hairstyles/faces, armor skins and outfits that don’t cost your first born child.

You know it’s sad when even the gemstore doesn’t have good content…

You realize the people who make the stuff that goes on the gem store aren’t the people who fix bugs or change game systems right? This is the same thing as people who yell at Rubi to stop posting on Twitter and fix the game. In both cases it’s really misplaced and dumb to do so.

I thought you were leaving the game?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Dear-Anet-why-i-leave-the-game/first#post5772370

The people that make stuff that goes on the gem store are artists. They make assets. They don’t decide said assets end up in the gem store.

Deciding where rewards are made avaliable is a design and management decision, and rests firmly on the shoulders of Colin and Mike.

They decided that ingame earnable rewards are extremely anemic in order to push an increasingly more aggressive gem store sales model, likely because HoT purchases did not meet expectations.

A great way to ensure more people buy HoT is to add greater value to that package by allowing people to earn rewards by playing HoT

It’s a good expansion, the content is good, the new systems are good, but the reward selection, for a 50 dollar expansion is extremely anemic. This is compounded by the rapid release of so many gem store skins shortly afterward. You’ve proven how fast your art team can produce this stuff. You’re tossing it out far faster than every before. Somehow it didn’t seem like adding value to your expansion was a good idea?

PyrateSilly.4710:

I thought you were leaving the game?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Dear-Anet-why-i-leave-the-game/first#post5772370

Ah guildie made me come back, and promised me that the crashes were for the most part fixed

BloodyNine.7504:

Bruno.3812:

If it’s f2p, how did I just manage to spend $100 for an expansion? F2p means free to play. You can’t play over there without paying.

You didn’t have to buy the $100 version. I paid $50 for it. Did you get $50 worth of content? I think so. Look at how much you get in other games for $50 bucks. Most times it is a LOT less.

WoW cots $15 bucks a month. Plus the initial cost of 49.99(on sale now though I think)

So the cost of this game is drastically lower. The lights need to stay on somehow. Especially if you want updates and events and fixes. Those require people, who require money. You either pay a subscription, or you pay in other ways. ANET has chosen the gem store.

Do I love everything about this game? Nope. But I play it over other MMO’s that do have a subscription cost.

Do you realize you completely missed the point of my post? Because you did miss it, by a county mile.

I wasn’t complaining about the cost. I was pointing out that if you have to pay to play then it’s by definition not free to play.

Game is f2p now so gem store updates are their thing like all f2p games.

If you bought expansion you actually bought grinding and elite spec that you can abuse until fix in 3 months. Everything else is just bonus which you can get in gem store.

I love buying things on the gem store. But lately, I haven’t spent a dime. The lack of skins released in the game some of us spent 100$ on is ludicrous. The fact that I can’t earn a single, NOT ONE, glider skin is a farce. The removal of visuals that do not take away from the game play, but add immensely to the enjoyment of the game was the final straw for me withholding money to the gemstore.

I like this game, but kitten have they made poor choices lately. alienating such a big part of their playerbase, myself included. The new “I’m not happy playing wow” crowd they are trying to con into feeling like this is how things have always been. You’re used to paying 15$ a month, so pay us now. The value of gw2 has been sinking.

As funny as this sounds, the game itself is close to no longer being the best. It still would have quite a life +5 years with this business model, but many players will be gone within 2 years in my opinion if this keeps up. It will really feel like a f2p game come 2017.

Sad to see so much quality be ignored. I won’t sidetrack too much, but the lack of your ability to speak with most npcs in personal story missions anymore is a joke. The ending of the story better have been to build up something else, cause it made no sense otherwise. The lack of variety in the new maps (play events on hardmode or go home). The lack of new skins. The visual nerfs. The endless experience grind at 80 to allow players to explore. (I enjoyed it a bit, but I just don’t have the heart to grind anymore) The lack of a balance pass for pvp before the season. The lack of forethought for the pvp season. The horrible design of the new wvw map. Ignoring the wvw community for so long that it died. Cutting corners on the rev (underwater weapons, some legends not working underwater). SO MANY THINGS that never would’ve happened at release 3 years ago, or even 2 years ago. I could even go on and name more, but this is becoming a rant rather than constructive.

This game can be quite expensive.

45€ for the core game and another 80€ to craft ascended gear to get raid access. Then if you want cool looking skins you either need to spend a lot more cash or grind for hundreds of hours to farm enough gold.

If op is a vet, he/she should know by now that every other week is gemstore “update” and the intervening week is patch week. Hence why this week is gemstore and next week is wintersday patch, and last week was an actual patch (mostly bug fixes). This has pretty much the way its always been (excluding the holiday breaks and the barren pre-xp drought).

Yes, I completely agree with you OP! The artists that made the new weapons, you know, the guys who are good at making the game look nice, we should make THEM fix fractals! Of course, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?! Everyone knows game development is basically like digging kitten, everyone is doing the exact same thing and there are no departments! Artists can develop intricate gameplay systems and vice versa, everyone knows that. It all makes sense now!

Thank you, OP, your wise words have changed the face of gaming forever!

Also, all praise be to ChrizZcE, here I thought I could just go into the raids but no, I have to spend 80 euro first. Mind telling where, pray tell?

EDIT: Really guys? The word “ho.le”, that’s the one you are going to censure? Huh, go figure

It’s never been f2p until recently.

It’s (Including GW1) always been buy to play, which we all did, buy it to play it.

ChrizZcE.5981:

This game can be quite expensive.

45€ for the core game and another 80€ to craft ascended gear to get raid access. Then if you want cool looking skins you either need to spend a lot more cash or grind for hundreds of hours to farm enough gold.

You do not need to buy gold in this game.

I think what the OP means is new skins in HoT is way too minimal compare to the amount of gem store skins released after HoT launch.

It’s like the recent trend of games, REMOVING the original contents that could have been in game and later sell them as dlc. Some company do that alot now EVEN BEFORE THE GAME LAUNCH. They put it like a “bonus thing” for their collector edition, when in fact, they should have just put them in-game since the game it’s NOT EVEN OUT yet.

The drive of maximizing profit in the game industry has become disgusting to me. Old games are way better and way more sincere than the current trend of game company. Old game developers make their game for the enjoyment of players. (Took them 3~4 yr for that perfect game, with minimal bugs since it’s hard to patch them later in old system). New game developers make games to maximize profit only.

Aomine.5012:

I think what the OP means is new skins in HoT is way too minimal compare to the amount of gem store skins released after HoT launch.

It’s like the recent trend of games, REMOVING the original contents that could have been in game and later sell them as dlc. Some company do that alot now EVEN BEFORE THE GAME LAUNCH. They put it like a “bonus thing” for their collector edition, when in fact, they should have just put them in-game since the game it’s NOT EVEN OUT yet.

The drive of maximizing profit in the game industry has become disgusting to me. Old games are way better and way more sincere than the current trend of game company. Old game developers make their game for the enjoyment of players. (Took them 3~4 yr for that perfect game, with minimal bugs since it’s hard to patch them later in old system). New game developers make games to maximize profit only.

1. No he isn’t, he is complaining about WvW.
2. They have added no armor sets in the gem store, only outfits (which I personally hate). Although the number of new armor sets in HoT was definitely by no means enough.
3. You have a point in general, but there is absolutely nothing to indicate GW2 faces the same issue. So I see no point in jumping to conclusions so quickly.

takes a drink

then don´t buy. Yes, just like that.

They should charge gems for ranting on the forums.

Aomine’s attachment summarizes everything.

Yeah sure, Anet needs to get money somewhere, but they could also try making games.

007 with Proximity Mines and the TV turned to the lowest possible contrast so you can just barely see the shiny silver glint of the mine… would be more gaming time content than time gating things by “Gaming is Farming,” Anet Logic.

Wanze.8410:

They should charge gems for ranting on the forums.

Anet should hire you, they would make so much money

The guys making glider skins aren’t the guys fixing bugs and making the game more gamey

Phy.2913:

The guys making glider skins aren’t the guys fixing bugs and making the game more gamey

This.

The people who fix bugs and balance the game are completely different from the people who design outfits and cosmetic items. Should the art team completely stop working on projects just because the other team is behind on fixing content?

“Hey you, art team! Pencils down! Just sit on your rears until the design/programming team gets caught up! Yes Jim, that means stop brainstorming ideas for armors. In fact, don’t bother coming to work for a few weeks until the other departments get their kitten together. You’ll be fine without a few paychecks, right?”

Aomine.5012:

I think what the OP means is new skins in HoT is way too minimal compare to the amount of gem store skins released after HoT launch.

It’s like the recent trend of games, REMOVING the original contents that could have been in game and later sell them as dlc. Some company do that alot now EVEN BEFORE THE GAME LAUNCH. They put it like a “bonus thing” for their collector edition, when in fact, they should have just put them in-game since the game it’s NOT EVEN OUT yet.

The drive of maximizing profit in the game industry has become disgusting to me. Old games are way better and way more sincere than the current trend of game company. Old game developers make their game for the enjoyment of players. (Took them 3~4 yr for that perfect game, with minimal bugs since it’s hard to patch them later in old system). New game developers make games to maximize profit only.

+1 for creativity, haha. Here’s hoping that a lot more content is added for HoT players (as well as some more vanilla content).

Phy.2913:

The guys making glider skins aren’t the guys fixing bugs and making the game more gamey

Of course they’re not. So how many new skins did your $50 expansion come with? You can’t tell me that the people making skins to be released in the game (this still happens, right?) are not the same people who make skins to be sold in the gem store. Or that they’re not the people who are making the art assets for the as-yet incomplete set of new legendary weapons.

They may not be the same people, but it certainly appears that the company is prioritizing gem store sales instead of producing a finished expansion. Then again, they already have your money for this expansion, so there’s no rush to, for example, add new fractals.

Keep on enjoying and defending your gemstore updates. Businesses need to make money, right? How else could they make money without putting a stranglehold on new cosmetics?

Bruno.3812:

I was pointing out that if you have to play to pay then it’s by definition not free to play.

So what is it if you do not have to pay to play GW2?

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

I was pointing out that if you have to play to pay then it’s by definition not free to play.

So what is it if you do not have to pay to play GW2?

Lol. Typos.

Your viewpoint is fun .I have to say"Yes, it is." in real life.money is one of the basic needs of survival.

You could always raid and work toward legendary armor if you want to show off.

Bruno.3812:

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

I was pointing out that if you have to play to pay then it’s by definition not free to play.

So what is it if you do not have to pay to play GW2?

Lol. Typos.

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to point out typos. I really am curious as to what you would call it if someone can play GW2 without paying anything. I personally would call that free to play because free to play does not necessarily mean free access to everything. I am unaware of any free to play game that does not charge for something.

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

I was pointing out that if you have to play to pay then it’s by definition not free to play.

So what is it if you do not have to pay to play GW2?

Lol. Typos.

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to point out typos. I really am curious as to what you would call it if someone can play GW2 without paying anything. I personally would call that free to play because free to play does not necessarily mean free access to everything. I am unaware of any free to play game that does not charge for something.

I don’t really consider the f2p accounts as truly representative. They have numerous restrictions that can only be lifted by becoming pay to play and are actually more an extended trial version of the game. If they ever want the expansion, the Revenant, the new elite professions, the mastery system, more than 2 char slots, complete access to guilds, restrictions on chat removed, restrictions on trade removed, etc, etc, they have to become buy to play and I would bet most serious f2p players do so, sooner or later.

Bruno.3812:

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

I was pointing out that if you have to play to pay then it’s by definition not free to play.

So what is it if you do not have to pay to play GW2?

Lol. Typos.

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to point out typos. I really am curious as to what you would call it if someone can play GW2 without paying anything. I personally would call that free to play because free to play does not necessarily mean free access to everything. I am unaware of any free to play game that does not charge for something.

If people have to pay for the expansion to access new maps and professions, just like any other non f2p games, then it’s not free to play for them. I don’t really consider the f2p accounts as truly representative. They have numerous restrictions that can only be lifted by becoming pay to play and are actually more an extended trial version of the game.

Maybe its just me, but if one can play…for free…then free to play seems fairly accurate. It is after all F2P (Free to play) not F2PE (Free to play everything).

Not a big deal though. To each his own.

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

Ashen.2907:

Bruno.3812:

I was pointing out that if you have to play to pay then it’s by definition not free to play.

So what is it if you do not have to pay to play GW2?

Lol. Typos.

Sorry. I wasn’t trying to point out typos. I really am curious as to what you would call it if someone can play GW2 without paying anything. I personally would call that free to play because free to play does not necessarily mean free access to everything. I am unaware of any free to play game that does not charge for something.

If people have to pay for the expansion to access new maps and professions, just like any other non f2p games, then it’s not free to play for them. I don’t really consider the f2p accounts as truly representative. They have numerous restrictions that can only be lifted by becoming pay to play and are actually more an extended trial version of the game.

Maybe its just me, but if one can play…for free…then free to play seems fairly accurate. It is after all F2P (Free to play) not F2PE (Free to play everything).

Not a big deal though. To each his own.

No. Not a big deal. It’s more terminology and how it’s packaged. I consider it an extended trial version as that’s really what it is with all its restrictions. However for the purpose of pulling in new people, the term free to play was probably considered more useful by marketing and they decided it would attract more people, with the expectation that once they are here and start playing they’ll upgrade to buy to play to remove all those restrictions.

BloodyNine.7504:

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free. The astronomical costs of items in games is by design. Why pretend otherwise? They NEED you to pull out your credit card and buy gems or the game goes away. Purchases of the game will only go so far. To keep it running there needs to be a revenue stream.

I can understand why people are upset. To be honest I would rather have no gem store, pay a subscription and have everything earn able in game. But that isn’t happening.

This doesn’t excuse the the obvious problems stated in many other posts. I am just saying, I understand why they do this. Not just why, but why the have to do it.

Basically, a number of people are abnormally mad at anything Gem Store related because they are tee’d off about the general direction of the game, HoT (the expansion), and, in some cases, more recent Gem Store practices (such as stuffing desirable items inside of “packs” and making them only purchasable through those packs with a bunch of assorted crap that no one wants, or releasing gliders as a new feature and then making 1% of the glider skins available through actual gameplay and 99% Gem Store purchase).

In other words, people are looking for more reasons to hate on the Gem Store because they’re already mad at it and the game. It’s understandable frankly. It’s not entirely logical half the time, but it’s understandable.

Labjax.2465:

BloodyNine.7504:

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free. The astronomical costs of items in games is by design. Why pretend otherwise? They NEED you to pull out your credit card and buy gems or the game goes away. Purchases of the game will only go so far. To keep it running there needs to be a revenue stream.

I can understand why people are upset. To be honest I would rather have no gem store, pay a subscription and have everything earn able in game. But that isn’t happening.

This doesn’t excuse the the obvious problems stated in many other posts. I am just saying, I understand why they do this. Not just why, but why the have to do it.

Basically, a number of people are abnormally mad at anything Gem Store related because they are tee’d off about the general direction of the game, HoT (the expansion), and, in some cases, more recent Gem Store practices (such as stuffing desirable items inside of “packs” and making them only purchasable through those packs with a bunch of assorted crap that no one wants, or releasing gliders as a new feature and then making 1% of the glider skins available through actual gameplay and 99% Gem Store purchase).

In other words, people are looking for more reasons to hate on the Gem Store because they’re already mad at it and the game. It’s understandable frankly. It’s not entirely logical half the time, but it’s understandable.

So here I’m going to put some logic in it.
Your character gets like 2 new skin sets by playing HoT. The rest is through the gemstore. Every week, we get to see new outfits going through the gemstore, while not seeing any new skin unlockable by playing the expansion.
There’s a clear overwhelming balance issue here.

Now people are going with a “but it’s f2p” as an argument. The thing is, this expansion is sold the same price as the core game when it came out. But the core game came with a lot more skins than this. The core game came with a lot more maps than this.

Yeah, you’ll come back by saying, “the expansion provides whole new mechanism which is a lot of work etc”. Well I agree. But they could at least provide at least a satisfying amount of new gear set so we could further customize our character.

And then you’ll say “They didn’t have time to create many new gear skins because they focused on providing actual gameplay”… well they have time to create those outfits every week.
“But it’s f2p” uuuuuhh…

Tabootrinket.2631:

Labjax.2465:

BloodyNine.7504:

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free. The astronomical costs of items in games is by design. Why pretend otherwise? They NEED you to pull out your credit card and buy gems or the game goes away. Purchases of the game will only go so far. To keep it running there needs to be a revenue stream.

I can understand why people are upset. To be honest I would rather have no gem store, pay a subscription and have everything earn able in game. But that isn’t happening.

This doesn’t excuse the the obvious problems stated in many other posts. I am just saying, I understand why they do this. Not just why, but why the have to do it.

Basically, a number of people are abnormally mad at anything Gem Store related because they are tee’d off about the general direction of the game, HoT (the expansion), and, in some cases, more recent Gem Store practices (such as stuffing desirable items inside of “packs” and making them only purchasable through those packs with a bunch of assorted crap that no one wants, or releasing gliders as a new feature and then making 1% of the glider skins available through actual gameplay and 99% Gem Store purchase).

In other words, people are looking for more reasons to hate on the Gem Store because they’re already mad at it and the game. It’s understandable frankly. It’s not entirely logical half the time, but it’s understandable.

So here I’m going to put some logic in it.
Your character gets like 2 new skin sets by playing HoT. The rest is through the gemstore. Every week, we get to see new outfits going through the gemstore, while not seeing any new skin unlockable by playing the expansion.
There’s a clear overwhelming balance issue here.

Now people are going with a “but it’s f2p” as an argument. The thing is, this expansion is sold the same price as the core game when it came out. But the core game came with a lot more skins than this. The core game came with a lot more maps than this.

Yeah, you’ll come back by saying, “the expansion provides whole new mechanism which is a lot of work etc”. Well I agree. But they could at least provide at least a satisfying amount of new gear set so we could further customize our character.

And then you’ll say “They didn’t have time to create many new gear skins because they focused on providing actual gameplay”… well they have time to create those outfits every week.
“But it’s f2p” uuuuuhh…

Armor skins take a whole lot more effort than outfits and weapons skins because those have way less clipping issues.

Wintersday will introduce new skins.

Tabootrinket.2631:

Labjax.2465:

BloodyNine.7504:

I think maybe it is because I am newer to this game. But none of this surprises me. The game is F2P. They have to make money somehow. These people don’t work for free. The astronomical costs of items in games is by design. Why pretend otherwise? They NEED you to pull out your credit card and buy gems or the game goes away. Purchases of the game will only go so far. To keep it running there needs to be a revenue stream.

I can understand why people are upset. To be honest I would rather have no gem store, pay a subscription and have everything earn able in game. But that isn’t happening.

This doesn’t excuse the the obvious problems stated in many other posts. I am just saying, I understand why they do this. Not just why, but why the have to do it.

Basically, a number of people are abnormally mad at anything Gem Store related because they are tee’d off about the general direction of the game, HoT (the expansion), and, in some cases, more recent Gem Store practices (such as stuffing desirable items inside of “packs” and making them only purchasable through those packs with a bunch of assorted crap that no one wants, or releasing gliders as a new feature and then making 1% of the glider skins available through actual gameplay and 99% Gem Store purchase).

In other words, people are looking for more reasons to hate on the Gem Store because they’re already mad at it and the game. It’s understandable frankly. It’s not entirely logical half the time, but it’s understandable.

So here I’m going to put some logic in it.
Your character gets like 2 new skin sets by playing HoT. The rest is through the gemstore. Every week, we get to see new outfits going through the gemstore, while not seeing any new skin unlockable by playing the expansion.
There’s a clear overwhelming balance issue here.

Now people are going with a “but it’s f2p” as an argument. The thing is, this expansion is sold the same price as the core game when it came out. But the core game came with a lot more skins than this. The core game came with a lot more maps than this.

Yeah, you’ll come back by saying, “the expansion provides whole new mechanism which is a lot of work etc”. Well I agree. But they could at least provide at least a satisfying amount of new gear set so we could further customize our character.

And then you’ll say “They didn’t have time to create many new gear skins because they focused on providing actual gameplay”… well they have time to create those outfits every week.
“But it’s f2p” uuuuuhh…

Outfits aren’t skins, end of argument. Outfits can’t be mixed and matched. They’re inferior to skins.

I agree that the ratio between gem shop items added and in game items/skins added is ridiculously high. This should be addressed.

But always remember, there are two significant ‘fair’ facts about those items:

- it is fluff
- you can buy them with your earned in game gold (yeah I know at the moment it is very expensive, but you can)

ProtoGunner.4953:

- you can buy them with your earned in game gold (yeah I know at the moment it is very expensive, but you can)

gem prices have been going down continously for 3 months now.

Ayrilana.1396:

The people who design those items are not the ones working on the other areas in the game fixing bugs or improving gameplay.

They could fire the item designers and hire people to fix their game.

As long as the Gemstore dosen´t give combat advantages you can´t get in game with a resonable amount of time spent i am totaly fine. And making money with well designed skins is part of business i am totally fine with it.
What i would like to put in more effort is to work more dedicated on class balacing and to get WvW out of its misery … While i know power creep is part of business its usually bad for keeping the full player base and the game long term stable…