Guild Wars 2

Is it me, or is this a huge money grab? I understand ArenaNet needs to make money to keep the servers up, but the Mystery Box is THE ONLY way to get a few mini’s(Mini Festive Golem, Mini Snowman, Mini Infinirarium.) This, accompanied by a disturbing posting I found from ArenaNet(not sure if it’s official), is that this year’s mini’s will not be obtainable after this year. Now what I’m complaining about is that…not only do we collectors get pressured for purchasing mini’s, but we only get a random chance, at said minis!? I thought this was a game you can achieve things IN GAME without the cash shop? Granted I’d gladly pay for the mini’s in store if I want them, but having a random chance, which was found to be a 1% chance at the mini’s, and a .01% for that quaggan, AND the fact that we can only get 2 out of 5 toys? Can someone from ArenaNet clear everything up here?

Yes it’s a money grab. This is what you get in a MMO with no subscription.

Welcome to NCsoft games. If you want to know what I think, Id say it will only get worse.

I seems to be downhill for the gemstore. They want our wallets. Badly,

rtommaso.3120:

Welcome to NCsoft games. If you want to know what I think, Id say it will only get worse.

GW1 was an NCsoft game and it was never this bad. They had a cash shop, but it was always straight sales. Any RNG items were obtained for free in-game.

Sadly I doubt the situation here will change unless and until people stop buying those stupid boxes.

Since when is any marketing at all a money grab? It’s blatantly advertised, there is no bait and switch or snake-oil being sold here. Anybody can know what these presents drop and how to get them. You can get all the minis, you just have to pay a few dollars or a few gold for it.

And as I’ve said before, you cannot be a completionist and a cheapskate, they are opposites. If you want it all you better expect to pay for it. Being a completionist is incredibly expensive in any real-life hobby, and is always somewhat dependent on random luck, why would anyone expect anything different in a digital hobby?

Conncept.7638:

Since when is any marketing at all a money grab? It’s blatantly advertised, there is no bait and switch or snake-oil being sold here. Anybody can know what these presents drop and how to get them. You can get all the minis, you just have to pay a few dollars or a few gold for it.

And as I’ve said before, you cannot be a completionist and a cheapskate, they are opposites. If you want it all you better expect to pay for it. Being a completionist is incredibly expensive in any real-life hobby, and is always somewhat dependent on random luck, why would anyone expect anything different in a digital hobby?

But you don’t think 65$ on average (Not even including Foostivoo) is a bit over the top?

No one would buy the Mystery Boxes if Mini’s were not in it. It’s acceptable because it gives even the most hardcore collectors a nice little challenge.

Plague.6723:

No one would buy the Mystery Boxes if Mini’s were not in it. It’s acceptable because it gives even the most hardcore collectors a nice little challenge.

A nice little challenge would include an insane jumping puzzle, some sick boss or dungeon.
Pulling 65$ from my wallet is not the challenge I’m looking for.
Sincerely a hardcore collector.

Technically, you could achieve these IN GAME. You’d just have to buy gems with gold instead of real life money. Yeah yeah the exchange rate sucks, but those are your options. They’re not going to release them in a mini pack because people, like me, who spent money on those boxes and got them would be a little miffed.
I, personally, wouldn’t care, but other people would flip their kitten.

I agree on what you say, and i don’t expect a fix. I just hope that enough negative feedback will make them design it better next time
You could achieve them ingame, but i still find it to be way over the top.

Consider this a way to confront your collector OCD. I did. I’ve decided one mini to commemorate an occasion is more than enough. I’m just done stressing over something that’s really not that important.

Danikat.8537:

rtommaso.3120:

Welcome to NCsoft games. If you want to know what I think, Id say it will only get worse.

GW1 was an NCsoft game and it was never this bad. They had a cash shop, but it was always straight sales. Any RNG items were obtained for free in-game.

Sadly I doubt the situation here will change unless and until people stop buying those stupid boxes.

I always viewed GW1 as the black sheep of the NCSoft family of games. It had a cash shop but it was straight sales and nothing completely game breaking (outside of I guess the Mercenary Pack, but that was when it was already dying and mostly for people who didn’t want to group).

I imagine there are some people now that are shouting how right they are that they called this happening during the betas when someone found out that a person from Nexon was in charge of the cash shop.

The only thing we can really hope for is that they take the community’s feedback into consideration for the next event cash shop update. You can buy the weapon skins this time around and you can also get a redemption ticket from the lolbox for a skin of your choice. It’s a chance you are taking but it gives you the option of choosing which monetary action you want to go for. I wouldn’t mind if they gave that same option for the minis.

Over 4k+ gems after and 50 boxes I only had 2 infininarium and 2 snowman, I had to use 2 of said snowman and 1 infininarium to make the quaggan, for a game that is all about cosmetics this is a pretty bad way to go about it.

I doubt it makes anyone happy to open dozens of boxes costing nearly 2g ingame for one useable tonic and 1 ugly wool, sock or hat but sadly thats what happens 90 percent of the time with Halloween, Black Lion Chest or Mystery Boxes.

Therefore its safe to say all RNG box related things are a downhill slope for anet, they really should find a better and more elegant way to extort money, at least it should be so that costumers wont mind being extorted from and right now, we do mind.

A few more events like this one and I can see myself moving on another game, it’s simple facts, this is mainly a game for cosmetic collectors who actually ‘care’ for minis, skins etc, people who dont care already quit the game in the first month or so, my friendlist would attest to that.
I ‘will’ mind come a event where I waste the lions share of my gem and gold quota and the RNG not give me what I want, being a collector that would NOT be fun at all. It’s fine to say there is more to gw2, but its also true that a big and important part of gw2 is precisely this, if they keep giving people ‘either waste hundreds of gold or hundreds of dollar’ to maybe get the a few choice items each event or none at all, this will get old soon.

There is only one thing I would add to the RNG in this game. The more effort, time, gold or gems you put into something, the more chance you have of getting the rare drops. Obviously the % increase would have to be small, and depending on how rare the item it, the increase in chance would grow slowly, to ensure an adequete amount of time or effort is put into getting it. But eventually you will have a high enough chance to almost guarantee you get the item you want, providing you have spent enough time/money/effort. After which, your bonus chance is reset for that item. Or perhaps you never gain the bonus % chance once you have already gained that item. So you build up your chance, then once you get the item, your chance resets and never increases again.

At the moment, you could put a trillion gold/real world money into the game and still not get the item you’re after, because that 0.01% chance never changes. With things like precursors and one off items, I really think people should at least have a chance to get something for their efforts. As it is now, even a rich completionist may not get the item he wants. The system just doesn’t work very well and a lot of players are getting fed up with it.

Personally, I don’t care about the mystic forge or gem store boxes anymore. I’ve given up on any chance of getting the rare stuff and I refuse to spend any more of my hard earned cash on a 0.1% chance of getting something. But seeing as how all these things are optional, I’m really not too bothered if I have to miss out.

Debsylvania.7396:

Consider this a way to confront your collector OCD. I did. I’ve decided one mini to commemorate an occasion is more than enough. I’m just done stressing over something that’s really not that important.

Well, define important. It’s what i like to do. I don’t stress over it, I gather them one at a time, and I’m happy everytime I get a new one. What I do stress about is when I’m forced to pay up 65$ all of a sudden to maintain my complete special mini collection. If they would return each wintersday, I wouldn’t care much. I’d get them next year.

Treeline.3865:

Conncept.7638:

Since when is any marketing at all a money grab? It’s blatantly advertised, there is no bait and switch or snake-oil being sold here. Anybody can know what these presents drop and how to get them. You can get all the minis, you just have to pay a few dollars or a few gold for it.

And as I’ve said before, you cannot be a completionist and a cheapskate, they are opposites. If you want it all you better expect to pay for it. Being a completionist is incredibly expensive in any real-life hobby, and is always somewhat dependent on random luck, why would anyone expect anything different in a digital hobby?

But you don’t think 65$ on average (Not even including Foostivoo) is a bit over the top?

Yes, I admit, that is a little over the top. I actually posted on this yesterday at least twice on this subject but it seems at least one of the posts was deleted for no reason, like most posts that make a decent point on these forums…

But basically, I’m okay with the RNG, but I believe all RNG needs to have a certain threshold, a place where a line is drawn where you will get what you want. For example, last night I suggested that we make 75 ‘X transformation tonic’ able to be crafted in to an ‘Endless X Transformation Tonic’, this would basically put a threshold on crafting the endless transformation tonics. You get three temporary tonics for each attempt, which would mean that if you fail 25 times you can just craft it outright with the junk it has given you, but if you get it sooner than that then that’s great too.

Treeline.3865:

Debsylvania.7396:

Consider this a way to confront your collector OCD. I did. I’ve decided one mini to commemorate an occasion is more than enough. I’m just done stressing over something that’s really not that important.

Well, define important. It’s what i like to do. I don’t stress over it, I gather them one at a time, and I’m happy everytime I get a new one. What I do stress about is when I’m forced to pay up 65$ all of a sudden to maintain my complete special mini collection. If they would return each wintersday, I wouldn’t care much. I’d get them next year.

Obviously, the definition of “important” is quite personal and subjective. I was speaking purely for myself. I’ve come to view ANet’s event constructs as a service in that I’m now thoroughly immune to item ownership obsessions. There’s too much stress in life as it is. I don’t play games to compound it.

Conncept.7638:

Yes, I admit, that is a little over the top. I actually posted on this yesterday at least twice on this subject but it seems at least one of the posts was deleted for no reason, like most posts that make a decent point on these forums…

But basically, I’m okay with the RNG, but I believe all RNG needs to have a certain threshold, a place where a line is drawn where you will get what you want. For example, last night I suggested that we make 75 ‘X transformation tonic’ able to be crafted in to an ‘Endless X Transformation Tonic’, this would basically put a threshold on crafting the endless transformation tonics. You get three temporary tonics for each attempt, which would mean that if you fail 25 times you can just craft it outright with the junk it has given you, but if you get it sooner than that then that’s great too.

You sir at least have brains! Credit for that, and excellent suggestion. This is the stuff that makes things like RNG bearable. I’d still not be a fan of it – But I wouldn’t complain either. Call it common ground. The problem about RNG is.. Well, take the minipets again, i could potentially buy 10 chests for 800 gems and get all the minis including Foostivoo. But I could also spend 200$ and still not have the 3 other minipets. It is highly unlikely – But it is still a scenario. Putting a worst case scenario on things like the endless tonic helps in the way that we KNOW it can’t get worse than 25 attempts. It’s kitten expensive, but still. We know we don’t have to try 26 times.

Debsylvania.7396:

Obviously, the definition of “important” is quite personal and subjective. I was speaking purely for myself.

Fair and square statement

Lacechan.6524:

Danikat.8537:

rtommaso.3120:

Welcome to NCsoft games. If you want to know what I think, Id say it will only get worse.

GW1 was an NCsoft game and it was never this bad. They had a cash shop, but it was always straight sales. Any RNG items were obtained for free in-game.

Sadly I doubt the situation here will change unless and until people stop buying those stupid boxes.

I always viewed GW1 as the black sheep of the NCSoft family of games. It had a cash shop but it was straight sales and nothing completely game breaking (outside of I guess the Mercenary Pack, but that was when it was already dying and mostly for people who didn’t want to group).

GW1: Anet > NCsoft
GW2: NCsoft > Anet

Please Anet, just put the mini quaggan in the gem store for 4000 gems. And bring it back every Wintersday. That way, no one would complain about RNG anymore and of course, everyone would be HAPPY because they could spend an entire year farming to obtain this super duper rare mini, right?

Treeline.3865:

Conncept.7638:

Yes, I admit, that is a little over the top. I actually posted on this yesterday at least twice on this subject but it seems at least one of the posts was deleted for no reason, like most posts that make a decent point on these forums…

But basically, I’m okay with the RNG, but I believe all RNG needs to have a certain threshold, a place where a line is drawn where you will get what you want. For example, last night I suggested that we make 75 ‘X transformation tonic’ able to be crafted in to an ‘Endless X Transformation Tonic’, this would basically put a threshold on crafting the endless transformation tonics. You get three temporary tonics for each attempt, which would mean that if you fail 25 times you can just craft it outright with the junk it has given you, but if you get it sooner than that then that’s great too.

You sir at least have brains! Credit for that, and excellent suggestion. This is the stuff that makes things like RNG bearable. I’d still not be a fan of it – But I wouldn’t complain either. Call it common ground. The problem about RNG is.. Well, take the minipets again, i could potentially buy 10 chests for 800 gems and get all the minis including Foostivoo. But I could also spend 200$ and still not have the 3 other minipets. It is highly unlikely – But it is still a scenario. Putting a worst case scenario on things like the endless tonic helps in the way that we KNOW it can’t get worse than 25 attempts. It’s kitten expensive, but still. We know we don’t have to try 26 times.

I saw this done in a Korean game. If you had attempted to get the rare 99 times and failed, your 100th attempt would be 100% successful (as a one time offer). If you managed to get it before 99 tries, the counter reset. There were some concerns because of the money cost involved, but there were a lot of in-game alternatives to getting the item needed to try for the rare and the system really could only be improved.

That particular system wouldn’t really work in GW2 though as it is.

Hey things could be alot worse at least the items that come from rng items from the in game store have no game play impact whatsoever, and half of the reason people want them is because they are rare thats the appeal in alot of cases if ya take away the rng you take away the rarity and aside from the few collectors no one wants the items anyway, and the game makes less money and I for one want the game to make a ton of money so we keep getting lots of new content to use the amazing game play in.

The one thing they maybe should change tho is making them unbound so people who get them and don’t want them can give or sell them to those who do.

Car.3805:

Please Anet, just put the mini quaggan in the gem store for 4000 gems. And bring it back every Wintersday. That way, no one would complain about RNG anymore and of course, everyone would be HAPPY because they could spend an entire year farming to obtain this super duper rare mini, right?

Haha, I’d say 4000 gems (2 upgrades to collector’s edition) is still over the top – BUT the way it is now. This would actually be a welcome improvement!

I have to chime in here because i myself am a collector too and my wallet is burning, a burning thats gonna stop right now.. i dunno why it turned out to be minis i collect since they’re also those who are most expensive and the hardest to get “drop wise”..
After having opened 30 wintersday boxes ive only gotten 1 mini… thats 2400 gems thats WAY too much, at least lets us get 1 random mini per 10 boxes this is just too much.. there is no doubt anymore theyr are just cash grabbin now..