Guild Wars 2

I’ve seen people selling the LS achievements ( like the infiltrator ones) in the LFG. how does this work exactly? do the people join at the end and still get them or do they just AFK at the start? Also I’ve already completed the achievements can i still redo them to sell or give to my friends?

Players can only join at the start. Whether you’ve completed them or not doesn’t affect whether someone else can get them.

Using the LFG tool to sell anything is a violation of the rules. If you see people do this right click them in the LFG and report for abusing the LFG feature (it’s actually an option in the report feature).

Living story achievements can only be earned once each per account. I wouldn’t recommend “selling” the achievements to other players as that may be a violation of the rules. At the very least it is a grey market. Those selling the achievements in the LFG tool could very well be scamming players.

Selling achievement runs is the same as selling dungeon runs. Arenanet et al allows dungeon runs.

Cyrill, I would just ask the person who is offering the run how they want you to behave or want they want you to do.

Charrbeque.8729:

Using the LFG tool to sell anything is a violation of the rules. If you see people do this right click them in the LFG and report for abusing the LFG feature (it’s actually an option in the report feature).

Living story achievements can only be earned once each per account. I wouldn’t recommend “selling” the achievements to other players as that may be a violation of the rules. At the very least it is a grey market. Those selling the achievements in the LFG tool could very well be scamming players.

Bring facts not speculation. This sort of fear mongering isn’t helping anyone. As the poster above said, dungeon selling is allowed. To my knowledge a distinction isn’t made regarding LS instances.

ArenaNet has never clarified if using the LFG tool to sell a service is against the rules.

When specifically asked on twitter, they said to report it. When asked here, they ignored the part about using the LFG tool and simply stated that selling an in-game service within the game was not against the rules.

I imagine it would be a gray area that they wouldn’t really want to enforce – GW1 had a lot of spam problems also.

As I understand the distinction, Healix, what you report is someone using LFG to try to sell merchandise, as that has nothing to do with grouping up to work on an instance or world activity. Using it to sell instance runs has been okayed.

As to selling achieves you’ve already done, I know that mixed groups can get the achieves. My second LS Labyrinth run (on an alt) was aided by a guildie who’d done it on the alt she was using. She got two achieves. Then we did an achieve hunting run and the rest of us got those two achieves and she got her remaining ones.

Thus it’s not a scam, if the seller delivers the achieve, as they certainly can help others through it whether by leading them on the right path, acting to distract the centaurs so the buyer can stay clear of trampling, etc. Personally I prefer to do these things with friends or to help those who ask and have never bought or sold any runs beyond minor unsolicited tips for mesmer jp portals.

Right now, I see someone trying to sell on LFG, and saying if you don’t like it, don’t join. I just report them as LFG abuse. But while on the subject, I’ve often seen LFG used by some for the sole intention of guild recruiting.

Thank you for the clarification.

Once I got the No Refuge achievements figured out, I was tempted to offer runs. I know some people are very much against selling runs for anything, but I think selling runs actually contributes to the complexity of the community and the economy.

I’ve never liked the idea of buying runs personally, I’d much rather play the game myself than pay someone else to do it for me. But if someone else want to buy them I don’t see the harm in it.

As long as it doesn’t get to the point it sometimes reached in GW1 where I’d occasionally meet new players who had been told (by people selling runs) that they should never, ever attempt to get to a new town or outpost on their own unless they were max level and had a running build. They should pay someone to run them there instead.

Gaile Gray.6029:

This is an interesting question. Looking for Group (LFG) could include the sale of a run, sure. I’d rather do a run with willing players than buy one, but it’s ok if someone offers an honest run and legitimately fulfills the offer.

Does that mean it’s ok to offer the sale of merchandise in that channel? No. There’s no way that LFG = WTS.

The tweet (which is more than a year old, btw) refers to selling spots in a party. Run sales are not prohibited, but they fall into the “Gentleman’s Agreement” space. So if someone tries to sell a spot on his run for in-game currency, and if someone else is willing to pay, we’d not act against it. The matter gets cloudy if either party reneges on the agreement: Fails to supply the offered service; fails to pay the agreed amount. In that case, Customer Service looks for and takes action on obvious signs of scamming, but does not try to force the fulfillment of these player-to-player arrangements. (Just like they don’t try to resolve player-to-trading situations. Be safe: Use the bloomin’ TP. Please.) So CS would consider whether the non-payer or the person who didn’t fulfill the agreement was an obvious scammer and act, but they’d not make arrangements to resolve financial issues, like refund monies paid, etc.

So people selling Legendaries and Precursors over LFG are stepping over the line and we can report them? Good to know. Overworld LFG is crowded enough as it is. What about people spamming unknown dungeon runs in overworld?

Honestly, this should tell ANet about the state of some achievements and attempts to get to badges with some of the jumping requirements.

Badge #7 & 30 anyone?

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Honestly, this should tell ANet about the state of some achievements and attempts to get to badges with some of the jumping requirements.

Badge #7 & 30 anyone?

You’d see this exact same thing if something similar was possible for Liadri where players could get help. Some players will take the easy way but that doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with the content.

Ayrilana.1396:

Some players will take the easy way but that doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with the content.

This thread itself is an example. People use groups to cheat the living story achievements. If ArenaNet actually wanted to make these legitimate achievements, the ability to gain them while in a group should be disabled. As for jumping puzzles, they should disable your skills and use of items.

Unfortunately, GW2 goes for casual accessibility. Liadri and TM SAB are really the only exceptions, though Liadri could be exploited by using lifesteals. Making achievements actual achievements would simply cause more complaints, as seen above with the badges or back with Liadri, when there was a large complaint thread about it and how some people just wanted the mini for their collection.

Gaile Gray.6029:

This is an interesting question. Looking for Group (LFG) could include the sale of a run, sure.

It could, sure, but should it? Besides that tweet stating otherwise, there has never been a clear response that has specifically stated that it’s okay to use the LFG tool to advertise dungeon selling. Even at the time of that tweet, it was known that selling dungeons was allowed.

Are you saying that advertising a service in the LFG tool is allowed as long as it’s related to finding a group? Or, at the very least, is it simply something that ArenaNet doesn’t take action against if, for example, reported for LFG System Abuse.

Personally, I assume it’s not something you would necessarily want, and as such, won’t specifically confirm, however, it is also not something you would ban for. If too many people did it however, it would become a problem, at least from the perspective of someone wanting to find a legitimate group. From their perspective, these advertisements are nothing more than spam that should be filtered out.

Healix.5819:

Unfortunately, GW2 goes for casual accessibility. Liadri and TM SAB are really the only exceptions, though Liadri could be exploited by using lifesteals. Making achievements actual achievements would simply cause more complaints, as seen above with the badges or back with Liadri, when there was a large complaint thread about it and how some people just wanted the mini for their collection.

Exactly. When you’ve made it clear that everything is accessible, and quite casually, a sudden shift will draw attention. I’m not saying make everything easy, but I am saying if you have, don’t go and make them kitten near impossible either.

Otherwise, you get mesmers selling ports to Badge #7 & #30 in LFG. And players being grateful that they did.

And let’s be honest, the last Adventure Box pretty much ended it ever coming back for a reason. And that had nothing to do with environment or other nonsense.

Guild Wars 2 was and is advertised as a casual-friendly game with no grinding. Players are not liking the way the last and latest episode flew in the face of that.

And they were right to be unhappy about it.

Gaile Gray.6029:

This is an interesting question. Looking for Group (LFG) could include the sale of a run, sure. I’d rather do a run with willing players than buy one, but it’s ok if someone offers an honest run and legitimately fulfills the offer.

Does that mean it’s ok to offer the sale of merchandise in that channel? No. There’s no way that LFG = WTS.

The tweet (which is more than a year old, btw) refers to selling spots in a party. Run sales are not prohibited, but they fall into the “Gentleman’s Agreement” space. So if someone tries to sell a spot on his run for in-game currency, and if someone else is willing to pay, we’d not act against it. The matter gets cloudy if either party reneges on the agreement: Fails to supply the offered service; fails to pay the agreed amount. In that case, Customer Service looks for and takes action on obvious signs of scamming, but does not try to force the fulfillment of these player-to-player arrangements. (Just like they don’t try to resolve player-to-trading situations. Be safe: Use the bloomin’ TP. Please.) So CS would consider whether the non-payer or the person who didn’t fulfill the agreement was an obvious scammer and act, but they’d not make arrangements to resolve financial issues, like refund monies paid, etc.

Seriously, really!!

You call it foul play to post WTS items on the LFG board, but allow WTS achievements, dungeon last boss reward chest posts etc and only then look down on that decision when it becomes clouded.. talk about double standards – why do you think it becomes cloudy!.
That kind of thinking is completely wishy washy and is why the board is now so full of all these types of scam posts.. Looking For Group is not “buy a spot into my group to get rewards”, its not “buy a spot and I will walk you through and portal you to every jump puzzle or achievement” and its not “Join my group to buy my items” – it is supposed to be a community tool to “Join a Group” not a sales tool!

Then again ANET seem to have a backwards view on what’s considered abuse of in game content, systems and mechanics anyway …. I give up!

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Exactly. When you’ve made it clear that everything is accessible, and quite casually, a sudden shift will draw attention. I’m not saying make everything easy, but I am saying if you have, don’t go and make them kitten near impossible either.

Otherwise, you get mesmers selling ports to Badge #7 & #30 in LFG. And players being grateful that they did.

And let’s be honest, the last Adventure Box pretty much ended it ever coming back for a reason. And that had nothing to do with environment or other nonsense.

Guild Wars 2 was and is advertised as a casual-friendly game with no grinding. Players are not liking the way the last and latest episode flew in the face of that.

And they were right to be unhappy about it.

I don’t think you know what accessibility means. As far as I know, just because something is hard doesn’t mean it can’t be casual nor accessible. Accessibility is NOT easy content. It just means you can access it over and over. The coin is not the content here, neither is the chest at the end of a jumping puzzle neither is the reward at the end of a hard dungeon.

Accessibility means you can access the content itself. The dungeon, the jumping puzzle, the collection. Everyone can try to get it, but that doesn’t mean everyone should get it.

Personally people selling shortcuts to certain area in the games for me is a bit broken. I’m for people helping people, but when mesmers have a monetary advantage over other profession just because of one skill, That’s pretty wrong.

In a way, I agree with the person above me that the game should be played, not shortcutted left and right. I’m all for people advertising help with certain content though, I don’t particularly see anything wrong with it. If two parties can agree on a price and such, then why should it be a problem.

As for selling dungeon runs by waiting at the end. I think that putting parts of a “end chest”- key in every single boss chest that pops up in order to get the last and final reward would help somewhat that certain dungeons don’t get run properly at all anymore. (although I’m sure that would get complaints or has it’s own issues.) I think it’s weird that people can hop in a dungeon near the end and get the full reward for it.

FrizzFreston.5290:

I don’t think you know what accessibility means. As far as I know, just because something is hard doesn’t mean it can’t be casual nor accessible. Accessibility is NOT easy content. It just means you can access it over and over. The coin is not the content here, neither is the chest at the end of a jumping puzzle neither is the reward at the end of a hard dungeon.

Accessibility means you can access the content itself. The dungeon, the jumping puzzle, the collection. Everyone can try to get it, but that doesn’t mean everyone should get it.

accessible
[ak-ses-uh-buh l] Spell Syllables
Examples Word Origin
adjective
1.
easy to approach, reach, enter, speak with, or use.
2.
that can be used, entered, reached, etc.:
an accessible road; accessible ruins.
3.
obtainable; attainable:
accessible evidence.
4.
open to the influence of (usually followed by to):
accessible to bribery.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/accessibility

You were saying?

Remember, the thread is about the achievements. This does include the golden badges as well as the Living Story achievement.

Badge #7 & #30, part of the achievement, are anything but easily accessible, reachable, or easy to obtain.

I’m quite aware of what the word means, thank you.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Guild Wars 2 was and is advertised as a casual-friendly game with no grinding. Players are not liking the way the last and latest episode flew in the face of that.

Casual friendly does not mean it’s designed for the lowest level of player skill. It just means that the playable content is accessible to everyone without having to grind for it. Unlike traditional MMOs for example, you don’t need to grind for weeks and continue running on that endless treadmill to access what would be considered the endgame content.

GW2 is actually rather challenging when compared to what other MMOs offer for the average player – the questing experience. I have a casual friend that could barely play GW2, yet is currently facerolling through WoW for example.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

You were saying?

It is easy to approach? Doesn’t mean it’s easy to complete.

Healix.5819:

Casual friendly does not mean it’s designed for the lowest level of player skill. It just means that the playable content is accessible to everyone without having to grind for it.

Think about what you just said for a moment. Two of the achievements in the newest episode are grinders. They require you to grind badges to get boots, a ring, the right organs (twice for a total of at least ten times minimum for one organ alone), and pants if you choose not to use alts, in order to gain the achievement and armor.

It’s not a question of skill, but a question of time and repetition, and luck with the RNG. That’s not casual friendly either. As complaints about grinding for that Halloween mini proved two months ago, that’s anything but accessible.

Again, I’m not saying give them away. But I am saying be realistic. And the evidence is paramount. When mesmers are selling ports to certain areas because lay players cannot reach it, I call that a problem with access.

Otherwise, those same mesmers wouldn’t be selling ports.

For example, are mesmers selling ports to the top of the jumping puzzle in the southeast puzzle of Southsun Cove?

No, because it’s accessible, also known as obtainable or attainable, to the casual player.

Healix.5819:

Unfortunately, GW2 goes for casual accessibility. Liadri and TM SAB are really the only exceptions, though Liadri could be exploited by using lifesteals. Making achievements actual achievements would simply cause more complaints, as seen above with the badges or back with Liadri, when there was a large complaint thread about it and how some people just wanted the mini for their collection.

I was one of the people who complained about the mini and I still don’t think there was a problem with the Gauntlet itself. The problem was pairing a casual reward with hardcore content. Awarding a title and a large number of achievement points made much more sense.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

I’m quite aware of what the word means, thank you.

Yeah, it’s a jumping puzzle, let’s put the chest/coin at the start of every jumping puzzle in order to make it more accessible. Because that is what you’re saying, it’s a completely ridiculous argument.

Of course, since you take the word accessibility so literally, you’re right. Jumping puzzles rewards aren’t accessible. /facepalm Way to show that every person can use a dictionary and still not understand the word.

Respectfully, what part of ‘lay players not being able to get to certain badges to the point where mesmers are selling ports’ are you missing?

At no point did I say put the badges ‘At the start of every jumping puzzle in order to make it more accessible’ or words to that effect. In fact, I believe quite the opposite. That’s you lashing out because I proved I knew the word and its use while you did not.

Literal tends to be the way a dictionary explains definition.

My apologies that’s not to your liking, but please feel free to argue against the definition offered by the dictionary.

Far be it from me to point out how silly and extreme your response was.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Respectfully, what part of ‘lay players not being able to get to certain badges to the point where mesmers are selling ports’ are you missing?

At no point did I say put the badges ‘At the start of every jumping puzzle in order to make it more accessible’ or words to that effect. In fact, I believe quite the opposite. That’s you lashing out because I proved I knew the word and it’s use while you did not.

Literal tends to be the way a dictionary explains definition.

My apologies that’s not to your liking, but please feel free to argue against the definition offered by the dictionary.

Far be it from me to point out how silly and extreme your response was.

A word alone in a dictionary is meaningless without the context. In gaming context accessibility is meant access to the content. The content is as accessible as it can be in GW2. That the reward isn’t, is a completely different matter.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

Think about what you just said for a moment.

The entire game is not meant to be casual, the playable content is simply meant to be available to everyone. In comparison, traditionally, the end of the game was cut off and only available to the top 1%, the raiders. Achievements, minis, skins, etc are not necessary to play the game. There’s no need to make everything easy. If it was, the game would be rather boring.

Back when the living story was temporary, everything was more casual, but that was simply because everything was designed to be obtained within a set amount of time. The problem this caused was that people became accustomed to getting everything with little effort. Now that the living story is permanent, the achievements are meant to be something you can work towards. Some people don’t want everything handed to them. Some people actually love grinding while others want tests of skill, and lastly, there are people that want everything right now.

Rather than a stat based endgame, GW2 features a cosmetic endgame. Many people have misunderstood what ArenaNet meant when they said that there would be no grinding. They were referring to the core part of the game. Cosmetics however were always meant to be a goal you could work towards. What they original announced during development was actually far more hardcore, with even stats being locked behind certain types of content, like dungeons.

The way Carpace armor is obtained is fairly casual friendly. You get most of the pieces from simply playing the story. If you want all the pieces however, you’re going to have to put in the effort. There’s also no reason why you need to obtain it now. It’s permanent content, so slowly acquire it over the next year by playing 1 breach a week or something. Also, it’s acquisition method was actually suggested a while back when people wanted zone specific rewards for playing within that zone.

Luminescent armor on the other hand is not meant to be easily obtainable. It’s meant to show dedication and a certain amount of skill, though as already mentioned, you can cheat that.

Over the last 2 years, I have noticed that ArenaNet has been expecting more out of their players. Slowly, they’ve been increasing the difficulty and trying to teach players how to do things. I’ve also noticed that they’ve been expecting faster reaction times. There’s been quite a few dodge or die (from a glass cloth perspective) AoEs with less than a second warnings. In past MMOs, I’ve never seen that in solo content, though most MMOs also don’t expect you to dodge, tank, heal, cleanse, DPS and everything else.

Danikat.8537:

The problem was pairing a casual reward with hardcore content. Awarding a title and a large number of achievement points made much more sense.

Who says minis have to be a casual reward? When they first revealed the gauntlet along with the mini on their live stream, they described it as a reward that skilled players can show off. At the time, it was the only item that actually meant something. The different color of SAB skins are for the same reason.

You can’t show off achievement points and titles are hidden. Something shiny will always be better.

FrizzFreston.5290:

A word alone in a dictionary is meaningless without the context. In gaming context accessibility is meant access to the content. The content is as accessible as it can be in GW2. That the reward is is a completely different matter.

Pretty sure I’ve provided example after example of context. Also pretty sure I didn’t make up statements that I later claimed you said too. Again, the word access is interchangeable with the words obtainable or attainable, to use your own words, in this context.

If lay players could obtain or attain certain badges (access), mesmers wouldn’t be selling ports to badges #7 and #30 on the LFG en masse.

You quibbling over word minutia is amusing, but beside the point.

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Otherwise, mesmers wouldn’t be selling ports. And other players wouldn’t be selling achievements, like in the infiltration one, as noted in the OP’s original statement.

Which is kind of the point of this thread.

Edit:

Healix.5819:

The way Carpace armor is obtained is fairly casual friendly.

To be honest, I stopped reading your wall of text after this sentence. I hope I don’t have to explain why given the topic and nature of this thread. But I can point out the many threads and posts from various players that screamed otherwise if you’d like me to link them.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

The proof is in the pudding, as they say. Otherwise, mesmers wouldn’t be selling ports. And other players wouldn’t be selling achievements, like in the infiltration one, as noted in the OP’s original statement.

Which is kind of the point of this thread.

That’s just an ad hoc statement. If you haven’t noticed, players always pick the easy route over the more difficult route. No matter whether the content is easy or hard. Like running Arah is extremely doable for some people, yet people buy finished paths, because of various reasons. (not having a guild, not being able to do it, not having time you name it)

Hell even stepping stones was being sold early on, and I still see people trying to sell it. But you bluntly pointed out that is not happening.

People are in it for the gain, just because people are buying it doesn’t automatically mean that the content is too hard. It just means they can easily bypass it, and thus they do a check whether they would do this achievement the hard way or the easy way. You can bet that no matter what the content is, people will get themselves a portal rather than going the long way around.

I agree that those coins are in very hard to reach places and thus “inaccessible” to some, and thus aren’t easily obtainable, sure. But the content, which is the jumping puzzle, is easily accessible. Thus putting forward that the game (which is the jumping puzzle in this specific case) isn’t accessible is simply not true. Accessibility nowhere states that that means the game needs to be a certain difficulty.

Just because something is very hard to pull off doesn’t mean the content is broken, needs to change or whichever. Otherwise the whole game difficulty would dwindle down to mediocrity, because then at least the normal players can get it all, while still feeling challenged.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

To be honest, I stopped reading your wall of text after this sentence. I hope I don’t have to explain why given the topic and nature of this thread. But I can point out the many threads and posts from various players that screamed otherwise if you’d like me to link them.

Considering you stopped at the Carapace armor part, what’s not casual about those pieces? They’re obtained by playing the game once. In what other MMO can you run through a single 30-60 minute story to obtain an endgame cosmetic piece? Oh no, you have to buy a piece and actually play the game for a few hours, it’s the end of the world.

Perhaps you were referring to Luminescent armor, which, as I already mentioned, is intended to show off dedication.

Sigh.

Remember, we’re talking achievements. Hence this thread. So, let’s discuss the three carapace boot pieces.

No, it’s not the end of the world, as you sarcastically allude, given you may get an average of 100 badges (maybe) per total run give or take. Between 3-15 per event if you help certain events to include 15 or 50 for an organ, if it’s not a half, in a Breech event. So . . . that’s around 30 total breech events, start to finish, not including paying for the requirements to extract random organs . . . if we’re being kind and not hopping from breech to breech using the LFG. 3,000 badges or more after the fact because of the extractor and hoping to God you’ll get the right organs.

I haven’t even added the other armor pieces.

That’s not casual play. That’s a grind. And more often than not: a random hit or miss one.

Let’s not even talk about repeating the entire story event with three different characters. If that’s casual, I’m six degrees separated since I only play and have one character.

Remember, oh no it’s not the end of the world, we’re casual with an average of 3-5 hours of free time after work, school, with wife and children, scenario. During Thanksgiving and the holidays.

We’re not talking just the one item you get for completing the story. And I really don’t think it’s casual to ask players to repeat the story three times. If that’s your defense, that requirement is anything but casual. People want to play the game for entertainment. Not chase the stick for a nonexistent piece of video game nonsense. Hence the reasoning behind what this thread is about.

Let’s not even talk about the Luminous items and achievements required.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

I only play and have one character.

So what you’re saying is, it’s not an issue? You only need to play the game once.

You don’t need every weight and there’s no reason to grind it all right now. This content is meant to last for another 2 months at least for the active story and continue on forever after that. It will never completely die out. Even if you were going to simply buy everything, it’s still rather casual when compared to a traditional MMO.

Simply stop thinking you need to have everything right now. Is ascended gear a grind? I’m not sure, after 6 months of not caring, it turns out I could craft it at any moment. Legendaries? After a year, it turns out I could buy one. For reference, I play about an hour a day on average.

Please don’t tell me how or how not to think because, with all due respect, you’re out of line. The thread is about why people are selling ‘achievements’ in the LFG channel.

I’m giving information about why this is the case, not my personal reasonings as to why or why not a certain issue is in place. This is not my personal want or need. So please stop addressing it as if it were.

Stick to the topic at hand. I did not ask for your advice on how to play much less think.

That was not required nor was it asked for.

In a perfect world the achievements would only be doable solo and mesmer ports would be disabled in JP’s. But that is unlikely to ever happen because most of the money for GW2 comes from very very very casual players who would rather buy everything than work for it.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

In a perfect world the achievements would only be doable solo and mesmer ports would be disabled in JP’s. But that is unlikely to ever happen because most of the money for GW2 comes from very very very casual players who would rather buy everything than work for it.

yay to be ignorant…..
i am the kind of very very very casual player but i never ever pay for anything to make things easier, what you’re talking about are not even real players because no true gamer can call him/her self a player when all they do is buy everything and do nothing to get anything.
sure, i take it extremely slow but when i want something i rather try and do everything with my own strength then even accept any help, let alone pay someone to be a guide.

I prefer earning the achievements myself, but if other people need help with theirs, I don’t begrudge them getting assistance as long as it doesn’t involve outright hacking or exploits.

What I do get annoyed at is people that clog up the Open World LFG with “WTS Dusk 1000g” and similar posts. That’s not what the LFG tool is for, people! Those posts warrant a report, I feel.

I am the one that you most likely seen posting for running the Invisible Infiltration with mote for tips. I run that with no required amount of tip although I suggest 5 gold. In the end lots of people tip more because of me doing the run well. I also offer to run the Aggressive achievement if they want.

There are times like last night when I spent another hour doing the other three achievements with them showing them the way for no tips.

I run that achievement for tips legitimately, honestly, and I fulfill my bargain every time. It just so happens that lots of people get aggravated with that achievement. Usually I run it for people that have already tried it several times vs. people that just want to pay for it.

I also consider complaints against it and I would not do it if it was against the rules. I enjoy doing it and people enjoy me doing the run.

I have had some people run without tipping and then block me. Shame on them for polluting the GW2 community with their behavior. As mentioned my average tip has been probably 5 gold for the run, two people tipped me 30 gold each once., but I accept any offers because I want it to be a win win for both people.

I believe that selling a service is completely acceptable.

For what it is worth I think the LFG works really well as it is. There is a place for “General Personal Story” but like others I don’t use that section for whatever reason. I think the “home page” is a go to place and works well for a go to place.