Guild Wars 2

Its on discount…will I get a permanent hairstyle makeover contract?

In your dreams.

The odds of getting a permanent contract are way too low to be buying keys for. Buy them because you want boosters, the various one use expresses, etc, and the chance for a scrap.
I’ve opened hundreds of chests and never got even one permanent contract. The odds are minuscule.

I only buy them when they’re on sale.

I don’t think they are worth the price my self.

I bought 75 keys last night. Was it worth it? For me yes. I got lucky and got a few skins that was able to flip for a solid gold. Black lion tickets that I will save and pick a skin that I can sell for most profit. (like to camp on those and wait and sell months down the road),

Many boosters which helps me.

If your aim is to get black lion skins, the price has generally been comparable to buying the skins with gold if you buy gem cards when they’re on sale and also buy black lion keys when they’re on sale. I wouldn’t buy the keys unless they’re on sale.
Bets Buy currently has a buy one get one 15% off on game cards which I just found out yesterday because it wasn’t advertised. On top of that if you’re an Elite member, there was a promotion for 11% points back for a purchase in August so that comes out to 18.5% discount overall per gem card. Combine that with the 26% off on keys atm and it comes out decently.

EremiteAngel.9765:

Its on discount…will I get a permanent hairstyle makeover contract?

Think of Black Lion Keys as lotto tickets: there’s almost no chance you’ll get something worth the cost. The value is entirely in the excitement you get by anticipating the possibility of a stellar drop — it’s strictly for entertainment.

Alternatively, think of the keys as donations to your favorite for-profit charity. You might get a tote bag for donating at least xyz to public radio (US) or Save the Children. In other cases, they offer a raffle for each abc that you donate — most people get bupkus and a few get the grand prize.

If you really love boosters then yeah. :P Otherwise… no.

LazyDad.2037:

I bought 75 keys last night. Was it worth it? For me yes. I got lucky and got a few skins that was able to flip for a solid gold. Black lion tickets that I will save and pick a skin that I can sell for most profit. (like to camp on those and wait and sell months down the road),

Many boosters which helps me.

75 keys at the discount price is 4725 gems.

That means you would have had to have sold 1217g worth of stuff to break even as that’s what you could have gotten for just exchanging the gems directly for gold.

If you think you got more than that then it was worth it (i.e. just about never)

Worth buying blacklion keys?

Nope. Never.

I’m not a fan of a monetizing scheme where a chance at something desired is all I get for my money/gold. I prefer to know what I am going to get.

It’s never about breaking even. Keys and chests aren’t an investment. It’s a capsule toy, a booster pack in MtG, a store’s promo blind gift bag. Maybe you get something you want, good chance you won’t.

Last time I open 25 chests I got the following;

• 25 boosters, duh (17 Combat, 3 Item, 2 XP, 2 Celebration, 1 Heroic)
• 9 TP Express
• 3 Merchant Express
• Bank Express
• 4 Teleport to Friend
• 3 Revive Orbs
• Transmutation Charge
• 3 Tomes of Knowledge
• Taimi’s Dye Kit
• Lion’s Arch Commemorative Dye Kit
• 6 Unidentified Dyes
• 4 Mini Eggs
• 2 Raven Mail Carrier
• Parrot Mail Carrier
• Self-Style Hair Kit
• Total Makeover Kit
• Black Lion Miniature Pet Claim Ticket
• Black Lion Claim Ticket
• 9 Black Lion Claim Ticket scraps
• Black Lion Key

If you want to know, I took a screenshot of my haul that day, that’s why I remember.

The usefulness is entirely in the eye of the beholder. But it’s not a get rich quick scheme. Right now you can buy 25 keys for 1575 gems or a bit under $20€. Converting from gold it’s roughly 640 gold (as today’s wing sale wasn’t kind on the exchange rate as it’s over 41 gold in smaller quantities). Converting $20€ to gold will net you 440 gold (yes the exchange isn’t symmetrical if you didn’t know that already).

Short of pulling a contract, which is extremely long, long odds, there is no way to profit from keys. It’s solely meant to be a “fun” way to get random gem shop stuff, no more, no less.

It’s been a while, but I guess, nothing changed: Guild Wars 2: 64 keys Black Lion Chest . But hey: Most of the time i’m unlucky and used to it (10 months of Treasure Mushroom farming – and nothing). I would never, never, never spend money for keys.

You got an Ori mining node (200-227g on the TP) and 28 Ticket scraps out of 66 keys (2 keys dropped). There is slightly more than a 25% chance of not getting a full ticket out of 66 chests so while disappointing it’s not shatteringly bad luck either. You did get 28 ticket scraps which is greater than +1 SD, nearly +2 SD better than average (better than 92% of possible outcomes).

I think overall you were luckier than most.

This is assuming that you buy with CC.
IMO no. Any of the costly items are quite rare. I wouldn’t throw away my money on something whos chance of spawning are less than that of being struck by lightning. The chances are too low. If you want a Black Lion skin you are better off buying them on the TP. I don’t fall for their “discounts”. Their promo is 25@1575 gems. Those same gems will sell back for 600g+. That’s about 3 skins, or6 Bloodstone Skins. This goes the same for the nodes. Iron Node (most expensive) has a buy of 501g leaving you with an extra 100g+. . If you’re lucky you may get 2 full tickets plus a few scraps.
The promotions have all been garbage considering its an Anniversary Sale. The only thing that has been worth purchasing has been the 3 bag upgrade for 400gem.

There’s a wiki article on Black Lion Chest content obtaining rates. It’s a great table, and you should check it out if you haven’t already:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Lion_Chest/Drop_rate

For me personally, never. I bought up keys on a sale and never again will I waste RL money on rng. Killing key farming and adding .00000000000000000003% to key drops doesn’t quite get people to buy them.

Chuck.8196:

This is assuming that you buy with CC.
IMO no. Any of the costly items are quite rare. The chances are too low. If you want a Black Lion skin you are better off buying them on the TP. I don’t fall for their “discounts”. Their promo is 25@1575 gems. Those same gems will sell back for 600g+. That’s about 3 skins, or6 Bloodstone Skins. This goes the same for the nodes. Iron Node (most expensive) has a buy of 501g leaving you with an extra 100g+. . If you’re lucky you may get 2 full tickets plus a few scraps.
The promotions have all been garbage considering its an Anniversary Sale. The only thing that has been worth purchasing has been the 3 bag upgrade for 400gem.

Everyone keeps confusing the exchange since they “fixed” it from where it was when the game launched.

You now ask for the cost of getting X of an item and it tells you the price Y rather than you asking how much of X can I get for Y. It is counter-intuitive to me. Prefer the old candy shop method where you ask how many Tootsie rolls I can get for a dollar rather than repetitively hone in on the quantity to match the amount I’m willing to spend.

Left hand side is exchanging gems for gold (you ask for the cost in gems for X gold) and the right hand side is exchanging gold for gems (you ask for the cost in gold for X gems).

At this time 1575 gems will cost you nearly 620 gold while buying 421 gold will cost you 1573 gems.

It’s one of those little annoying things like confusing revenue with profit that will get me to post.

Behellagh.1468:

Chuck.8196:

This is assuming that you buy with CC.
IMO no. Any of the costly items are quite rare. The chances are too low. If you want a Black Lion skin you are better off buying them on the TP. I don’t fall for their “discounts”. Their promo is 25@1575 gems. Those same gems will sell back for 600g+. That’s about 3 skins, or6 Bloodstone Skins. This goes the same for the nodes. Iron Node (most expensive) has a buy of 501g leaving you with an extra 100g+. . If you’re lucky you may get 2 full tickets plus a few scraps.
The promotions have all been garbage considering its an Anniversary Sale. The only thing that has been worth purchasing has been the 3 bag upgrade for 400gem.

Everyone keeps confusing the exchange since they “fixed” it from where it was when the game launched. Left hand side is exchanging gems for gold (you ask for the cost of gems for X gold) and the right hand side is exchanging gold for gems (you ask for the cost of gold for X gems).

At this time 1575 gems will cost you nearly 620 gold while buying 421 gold will cost you 1573 gems.

It’s one of those little annoying things like confusing revenue with profit that will get me to post.

ya sorry i asked a guildy to check for me as I wasnt on . They didn’t read it right.
I checked my self. Its actually only about 421g ,but it keeps changing, which is still more than enough for multiple skins. But everything still applies. Costs well outweigh the value of what you’d receive before obtaining a contract.

Chuck.8196:

ya sorry i asked a guildy to check for me as I wasnt on . They didn’t read it right.
I checked my self. Its actually only about 421g ,but it keeps changing, which is still more than enough for multiple skins. But everything still applies. Costs well outweigh the value of what you’d receive before obtaining a contract.

You are still making that error. You buy gems with gold from the right column where you enter the amount of gems you want to buy and it tells you the cost in gold. The cost to buy 1575 gems from the exchange is over 600 gold. 400+ gold is what you get SELLING 1575 gems to the exchange and you have to hunt and peck to get the price just under 1575 to find out how much gold you can get.

As I said, the exchange is backwards to how most people think about exchanging X of something for Y of something.

When you travel and exchange currency you don’t ask for the cost in the local currency in your currency you ask for as much local currency you can get for a fix amount of your currency. You don’t ask to “buy” 100 Euros, you offer to “sell” $100 US dollars.

so 2 days ago, 114 gold = 400 gems, today, 154 gold = 400 gems. Please explain how the specials work, as whenever their is a chance to buy keys and stuff, the exchange goes through the roof, and its now more expensive to even buy the special, meh, time for TV

Behellagh.1468:

You are still making that error. You buy gems with gold from the right column where you enter the amount of gems you want to buy and it tells you the cost in gold. The cost to buy 1575 gems from the exchange is over 600 gold. 400+ gold is what you get SELLING 1575 gems to the exchange and you have to hunt and peck to get the price just under 1575 to find out how much gold you can get.

As I said, the exchange is backwards to how most people think about exchanging X of something for Y of something.

When you travel and exchange currency you don’t ask for the cost in the local currency in your currency you ask for as much local currency you can get for a fix amount of your currency. You don’t ask to “buy” 100 Euros, you offer to “sell” $100 US dollars.

1575 gems is the 400g+ as we discussed. As i said when i started, using a CC. So the cost of gems in gold is irrelevant. You are repeating exactly what I did and are getting the same number. Where is the mistake?

MarkBecks.6453:

so 2 days ago, 114 gold = 400 gems, today, 154 gold = 400 gems. Please explain how the specials work, as whenever their is a chance to buy keys and stuff, the exchange goes through the roof, and its now more expensive to even buy the special, meh, time for TV

If you want cheap(er) gems bought with gold, don’t wait till the last minute and buy them when everyone else is buying them. Buy ahead of time when the price is down.

Keys are never worth it, Anet would have to discount them by 80% to be remotely worth it

Chuck.8196:

Behellagh.1468:

You are still making that error. You buy gems with gold from the right column where you enter the amount of gems you want to buy and it tells you the cost in gold. The cost to buy 1575 gems from the exchange is over 600 gold. 400+ gold is what you get SELLING 1575 gems to the exchange and you have to hunt and peck to get the price just under 1575 to find out how much gold you can get.

As I said, the exchange is backwards to how most people think about exchanging X of something for Y of something.

When you travel and exchange currency you don’t ask for the cost in the local currency in your currency you ask for as much local currency you can get for a fix amount of your currency. You don’t ask to “buy” 100 Euros, you offer to “sell” $100 US dollars.

1575 gems is the 400g+ as we discussed. As i said when i started, using a CC. So the cost of gems in gold is irrelevant. You are repeating exactly what I did and are getting the same number. Where is the mistake?

Sorry mate, though you were still saying it COST 400+ gold to buy 1575 gems.

No, non, nein, nee, nema, njet, ninguno, hakuna, not ever.

I wouldn’t recommend buying black lion keys, unless you have cash or gold to burn. RNG is RNG and unless you are extremely lucky, you will most likely end up with some boosters and ticket scraps.

It’s always one booster and two other things. It bugs me when people are annoyed that they get what’s a guaranteed drop.

Ironically it’s the ticket scraps and claim tickets I want; far as I know keys are the only way to get those? I don’t know how anyone unlocks the skins without spending hundreds of dollars I’ve gotten 9 scraps out of 20 keys. Most keys from map completions. Esp when some are 2-3 tickets aka 10 scraps… unless there’s another way to get scraps.

Otherwise yeah it’s lotto but I have gotten hair kits from them and makeovers. So can’t be too annoyed saving a lot more gems.

You get on average 1 scrap every 3 chests and 1 full ticket every 50. And as ridiculous you may think it is, players still buy BLT skins with scraps and put them on the TP.

And keys do drop infrequently in the open world plus the personal story. You can key farm once a week still, not a plentiful free source of keys but … gift horse and all.