Guild Wars 2

I was bored, decided to Ecto Gamble. Made a daily log. (WARNING: traumatic experience)

Day 1 -

Decided to try ecto gambling because I had around 13k gold sitting in my inventory and about 30k worth of liquid assets in my vault (t6 mats, permanent contracts). My characters are fully decked out. Why not?

Ended the day with 800g profit. Thought to myself: Why exchange gems for gold when I just got 800g in like 10 minutes?

Day 2 -

Had a great sleep. Woke up in the morning, jumped in the pool for a quick morning dip, had breakfast and coffee, sat back down at my computer and ready to do some more gambling.

2 hours in: I got my 100 tries, got the achievement, got the portable vendor, I’m now 6k gold down. I told myself: I need to get my gold back from this scrawny Skritt.

3 hours in: I’m down 11k gold. I told myself: today just ain’t my day. I’ll try it again tomorrow.

Day 3 -

After a somewhat satisfying night, I woke up in the morning, feeling pumped to do more ecto gambling. I didn’t go for a swim though. Just ate some breakfast and jumped straight to the computer.

I’m out of liquid gold, starting to sell my liquid asset in my vault at instant buyout prices to finance my ecto gamble addiction.

2 hours in: At one point, I made about 4k gold for THIS DAY. Still with a net loss of about 15k gold, I decided to try more.

3 hours in: Palms sweaty, moms spaghetti. I’m down to a net loss of around 26k gold now. More than half of my liquid assets have been sold to the Trading Post. Out of sheer impulse, I emptied my bank into the Trading Post and got my last 15k gold to play.

5 hours in: I lost everything. I’ll never make my 41k gold back from the scrawny Skritt. I will just keep losing more. I give up. I’m gonna stick to gem exchange now. Good bye ecto gambling. I will not miss you.

Day 4 -

I was drunk last night. Woke up feeling hungover. I stood in the cold shower, reflecting on what the kitten just happened. I feel better now.

The house always wins. This applies to in game gambling (ectos, BLC’s, or even the old Moa race) as well in real life casinos.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201008/why-the-house-always-wins

In both cases, the same conclusion is reached: the house always wins. It’s a statistical guarantee voided only if you’re one of the fortunate few who takes a big pot and calls it quits right then and there. Play on, and the house has you again.

Personally I think it is pretty shady Anet even put this in the game. I’m guessing for some reason they figured it is a necessary gold and ecto sink or at least that is how they would explain it. When in reality it probably takes advantage of players that have gambling issues and end up buying gems to convert to gold to feed their addiction.

Having worked with addicts I’m not a fan of Anet’s various gambling devices. Sure it isn’t gambling for real money but to an addict that doesn’t matter. It is the rush they get and the compulsion to keep going back that is being taken advantage of.

Look at the research done by players on wiki they averaged a lost of gold on every attempt. I had a 3k gold winning streak when I got the vendor. Then I lost 2k gold and decided to stop. The vendor is like a free personal merchant only without the harvesting tools.

Best rule with gambling is if you win / get lucky the first time you try a particular “game”, do not EVER bother with it again. Oddly enough, the same is true if you lose / get unlucky. Funny how that works.

I cannot believe that you thought you will win in a long run. The skritt was clearly designed to be a gold and ecto sink where people can challenge their luck.
You must have a serious gambling addiction if you had to loose 41k gold before stopping.

I’m glad the OP wasn’t raging about his experience. The one time I went to a casino, I set aside a certain amount of money I was willing to lose and would stop gambling after that. I won some money at Roulette so I went to the Blackjack table. When I had lost all the money I had set aside plus my winnings, I stopped. Now I can say I gambled in a casino.

Most of my gold are from gem exchange when it was 4.5k gems for 1k gold. I bought like 2.5k usd of gems that week. Had I farmed the 40k gold I’d never have gambled lol. I know how time consuming it is to farm gold in this game. But it doesn’t matter now because I lost it all.

Vacheron.9870:

Most of my gold are from gem exchange when it was 4.5k gems for 1k gold. I bought like 2.5k usd of gems that week. Had I farmed the 40k gold I’d never have gambled lol. I know how time consuming it is to farm gold in this game. But it doesn’t matter now because I lost it all.

And here people complain that 50 bucks is to much for the expansion I will just refer them to this thread.

Vacheron.9870:

I told myself: I need to get my gold back from this scrawny Skritt.

This is the exact point that you messed up. Don’t ever chase your losses.

When it comes to gambling your ideal mindset should be set yourself a certain amount of money that you’re going to lose. Just pretend the money is already the establishment’s when you walk through the door. If you’re not comfortable with the thought of losing that money then straight up don’t gamble. This way if you end up getting lucky then that’s great. But if you end up losing then you’ve set yourself a threshold to minimise your losses to a figure you’re comfortable with and won’t feel compelled to chase your losses.

Sorry for you
Lifetime rule #1: Gambling is a trap. Always and everywhere

Learned it the hard way in gw2. Still haven’t learned it in rl yet lol. To put it in perspective, I’d have to sell my apartment and my car before I realize I’ll never get those money back *wink

JustTrogdor.7892:

The house always wins. This applies to in game gambling (ectos, BLC’s, or even the old Moa race) as well in real life casinos.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201008/why-the-house-always-wins

In both cases, the same conclusion is reached: the house always wins. It’s a statistical guarantee voided only if you’re one of the fortunate few who takes a big pot and calls it quits right then and there. Play on, and the house has you again.

Personally I think it is pretty shady Anet even put this in the game. I’m guessing for some reason they figured it is a necessary gold and ecto sink or at least that is how they would explain it. When in reality it probably takes advantage of players that have gambling issues and end up buying gems to convert to gold to feed their addiction.

Having worked with addicts I’m not a fan of Anet’s various gambling devices. Sure it isn’t gambling for real money but to an addict that doesn’t matter. It is the rush they get and the compulsion to keep going back that is being taken advantage of.

• No, the house doesn’t always win — it depends on the odds. With ecto gambling, the odds are against you.

• This is currently the only source of portable mystic forge parts, so the point was to get that into the game. But enough people gambled that there are plenty of portable mystic forge parts in game by now.

2 different posts today about ecto gamblinig today so far and the value continues to drop on the TP. I’m thinking plans might not be working out for someone here lol.

ekarat.1085:

JustTrogdor.7892:

The house always wins. This applies to in game gambling (ectos, BLC’s, or even the old Moa race) as well in real life casinos.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201008/why-the-house-always-wins

In both cases, the same conclusion is reached: the house always wins. It’s a statistical guarantee voided only if you’re one of the fortunate few who takes a big pot and calls it quits right then and there. Play on, and the house has you again.

Personally I think it is pretty shady Anet even put this in the game. I’m guessing for some reason they figured it is a necessary gold and ecto sink or at least that is how they would explain it. When in reality it probably takes advantage of players that have gambling issues and end up buying gems to convert to gold to feed their addiction.

Having worked with addicts I’m not a fan of Anet’s various gambling devices. Sure it isn’t gambling for real money but to an addict that doesn’t matter. It is the rush they get and the compulsion to keep going back that is being taken advantage of.

• No, the house doesn’t always win — it depends on the odds. With ecto gambling, the odds are against you.

• This is currently the only source of portable mystic forge parts, so the point was to get that into the game. But enough people gambled that there are plenty of portable mystic forge parts in game by now.

Yes the house always wins. It is more a statement based on psychology and gambling habit. In a real world casino every game the house always has the best odds even though in some cases they can be as low as 1% in favor of the house. (The exception is poker where you are playing against others and a percentage of the pot goes to the casino.) Sure if you go and bet $100 on red in roulette and win then walk away the house didn’t win. But in most cases people don’t just win and walk away. The OPs post is a testament to that and the casinos that cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to build are a testament to that. Over time, no matter what the game if you keep playing the house always wins.

I’ve done it a number of times but I only ever gamble in very small quantities. I’ll do 10 – 30 at a time and see if I make a couple ectos back. Once I win enough times to have made a profit, I stop for the day.

Unfortunately, even in small scale like that I’ve lost a significant amount, too. I’ll gamble 30 ectos and in two or three tries suddenly I’m down to like 5 ectos left. It literally just happened about 10minutes ago and after reading this thread, I don’t think I’ll ever bother with it again. I don’t have the luck for this stuff. I never win anything IRL and never have in any games either. If anything I’m one of those people who’s cursed with the kind of luck that golf ball would hit me in the temple in the middle of a desert.

There is a reason why financial planners IRL never advise clients to gamble in order to increase their wealth (resources, general well-being, whatever). Games are no different than RL in this regard.

I like to think I’ve earned more than I’ve lost to the ecto slot machine… I’ve gone from 1k to 4k, 2k to .00047k, and most recently 500g to 1.7k… Those are just the memerable ones, I’m sure I’ve made & lost more in other instances as well…

I gambled just enough to complete the achievement and get the Delivery Portal. I ended up coming out slightly ahead, so I called that a win. I’ve never given that greedy Skritt any more ectos since. :P

JustTrogdor.7892:

ekarat.1085:

JustTrogdor.7892:

The house always wins. This applies to in game gambling (ectos, BLC’s, or even the old Moa race) as well in real life casinos.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/neuronarrative/201008/why-the-house-always-wins

In both cases, the same conclusion is reached: the house always wins. It’s a statistical guarantee voided only if you’re one of the fortunate few who takes a big pot and calls it quits right then and there. Play on, and the house has you again.

Personally I think it is pretty shady Anet even put this in the game. I’m guessing for some reason they figured it is a necessary gold and ecto sink or at least that is how they would explain it. When in reality it probably takes advantage of players that have gambling issues and end up buying gems to convert to gold to feed their addiction.

Having worked with addicts I’m not a fan of Anet’s various gambling devices. Sure it isn’t gambling for real money but to an addict that doesn’t matter. It is the rush they get and the compulsion to keep going back that is being taken advantage of.

• No, the house doesn’t always win — it depends on the odds. With ecto gambling, the odds are against you.

• This is currently the only source of portable mystic forge parts, so the point was to get that into the game. But enough people gambled that there are plenty of portable mystic forge parts in game by now.

Yes the house always wins. It is more a statement based on psychology and gambling habit. In a real world casino every game the house always has the best odds even though in some cases they can be as low as 1% in favor of the house. (The exception is poker where you are playing against others and a percentage of the pot goes to the casino.) Sure if you go and bet $100 on red in roulette and win then walk away the house didn’t win. But in most cases people don’t just win and walk away. The OPs post is a testament to that and the casinos that cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars to build are a testament to that. Over time, no matter what the game if you keep playing the house always wins.

FYI the phrase “The house always wins” is a reference to how gambling actually works in the big picture not a psychological deal. Basically if you and 299 people pay $1 to play a game and you win $100 the house won. You’re never capitalizing. Your gain is only 99$ and theirs is $201. They actually keep your dollar you paid in by simply giving you that dollar back in your winnings.

Sinister kitten.

Thank-you for the story! I tried once, won some gold and ectos and was going to try again and then forced myself to go for a walk and have a coffee and think about it. I figured if my luck with the mystic forge was always super bad, why would it be different here? I didn’t try again, it looks like I did the right thing

oh well, that happens. 50k gold only cost around 3.5k usd so it’s not too great of a loss i guess. if you wait for the price to go up to 20 gold per 100 gems you can have the 50k for like 3.1 or something. then you can gamble on.

Sorry, but I’m not touched by a gambling story of some rich privileged kid with swimming pool and 2500 USD free for buying gems. Good for arenanet.

JustTrogdor.7892:

Having worked with addicts I’m not a fan of Anet’s various gambling devices. Sure it isn’t gambling for real money but to an addict that doesn’t matter. It is the rush they get and the compulsion to keep going back that is being taken advantage of.

This is how freemium games make their money. 95% of players don’t spend a single dollar on game and the 5% of addicts basically fund the whole thing. It’s also the reason why the game is full of these reward systems, progression bars and gambling elements.

Of course, gambling can be enjoyable too and you can view the losses as an acceptable cost for that enjoyment. Everyone has a different threshold. I used to regularly play a slot machine in a local pub. Its payout was set at about 80% so the losses, on average, were fairly slow. Over the course of a couple of beers I’d chat to folk, feed the machine, win some, lose some and stop when I’d spent around the price of another couple of beers. It was entertainment. Not all gambling is bad, but I can see how someone could get carried away with it. The thing to remember is that folks only ever boast of the wins.

And don’t be too judgemental of someone who spends lots of RL $$$ on the GW2. Be happy that they are subsidising your game.