Guild Wars 2

Mnemon.6205:

MisterEction.9382:

I’m far from a person of means. You aren’t illustrating anything about elitism except that you are unclear on the concept. There is nothing elitist about demonstrating that it is just as possible to buy T3 armor in the gem store and place it on a low level character as it is to do the same thing with gem store armor. Or that there are other things in the game even more valuable that it is equally possible to do so with. Especially since it is in direct response to your argument on such matters.

The elitism comes in thinking you are better than the other person, which is entirely the province of the T3 people who “earned” their armor by playing a game are disparaging those that spend money on gems they bought with money doing work that for many is likely much more unpleasant. So really, it is idle who feel they are superior to those that work.

Then what about the people who didn’t have the option because it didn’t exist when they decided to go for it? Although, if you have all of the things you elaborated on before, you are certainly have more means than I do. So you can more easily casually acquire those things than I can.

To both the cited users; frankly, both sides have been cheated. The arguments both presented, while valid, are almost meaningless because it has simply become a question of two “sides” of an argument butting heads. All the while, the badly thought out decisions (in putting the skin up for sale, and then taking it down) on the part of the business providing this game for us, is being side-lined and neither Anet nor NC Soft expect to have to make further adjustments, such as distribute compensation to the parties which will be short-changed by the way this re-skinning fiasco is playing out.

But if they’re not contractually obligated it then illustrates another point to us, the ignorant consumers; always read the fine print.

Not having time to read through the entirety of this lengthy discussion on the topic of the re-skinned human T3, I’ll try to keep it relevant, mention the essential points that I’ve seen other users post, and weigh in with an opinion upon how this could be balanced out:

An outright withdrawal of the flame-kissed skin seems unfair, and though it can be justified through the further unfairness caused to those who farmed the gold for and bought Human cultural T3, outright removing the skin ( for my part it was the only attractive aesthetic work, out of the re-skinned armour releases) seems to me to be a real waste. The other re-skins appear to me far more lazy in their execution, and also under-handed; basic armor, badly re-skinned, sold to semi-unwitting customers for large amounts of gold, or real money. I’m surprised there wasn’t far more uproar over THAT attitude toward re-skins. I think it is a point of debate that should be taken up.

There are plenty of people who spend money on gems, and those who do so will in return be outraged that the money spent on gems in such a fashion was then “wasted” through a switch of product, or gets refunded. It’s like a business trying to initiate a product recall without any justifiable (to the customer) for doing so. Frankly a bad business call, and running the gem store in such a fashion will result in fewer long term customers paying real money for gems; in part the purpose of said gem store.

From my perspective, the original flame-kissed skin should be retained in some fashion, but it needs to be balanced with the fact it is a re-skin of the T3 Human cultural. Whether that be by doubling its price, in comparison to existing human light T3, to customers buying for non-human characters (a move which may have to be followed by the opportunity for other such highly priced re-skins of other races’ cultural gear available to all races), or through allowing the flame-kissed skin to replace/be an alternate version of the existing cultural gear. This latter option, however, still would appear to require some additional compensation on the part of NC Soft/Anet to customers who bought the skin; after all, it was their mistake, as a business providing a service.

Titan Cronus.9216:

“A good compromise leaves everyone feeling cheated”.

No idea of the origin of the quote (the internet also appears confused on this one), but well said regardless. Another perspective, however, is that everyone who loses something however should also gain something. It’s well within NC Soft/Anet’s interests, and capacity, to manage a compromise that would help them save face, and also keep their customers happy. Anything else is, frankly, laziness on their part; all too true a fault of modern capitalism, more broadly speaking.

If the people who bought the skin lose it, then it has to be compensated not merely by the acknowledgement of a mistake, but by NC Soft/Anet compensating their customers properly for presenting them with such an inconvenience. A simple refund of gems, to my mind, is inappropriate.

To save face, they should frankly give additional gems as part of the refund.

If they keep the skin, it needs to be extremely exclusive, in some fashion. Appropriate at the very least to the T3 cultural re-skin which it was. Higher price, alternate purchase method, whatever; but in doing so know they’ve opened that door, and likely need to follow suit with other cultural items.

The people in the least need of satisfying, if such points are taken into account, are those who had their pride stung by the, albeit thoughtless, fashion in which the skin was sold on the gem store. By taking it away from people who paid for it, or changing the method in which it is obtained to be at least equal to the investment by those obtaining the cultural gear, if not more challenging. But please remember that in quelling your outrage, you’ve given plenty more people a reason to be outraged.

Yet injustice was inflicted upon everyone except the companies causing it thus far; I suggest that as customers, you might want to point out the importance of that error to them.

I couldn’t even tell if your tone was sarcastic… Nevermind! But it could include things like schedules for guild events, if people want to take part.

In the spirit of community and what I believe to be an untapped resource in the game world, why not make banners useful for more than just buffs? An entire window pops up when using them that give a generic “Please enjoy our compliments” message.

Why not make it something more in the spirit of opening out to your server, others, even? A message written by the guild who placed the banner would be a far better use of the window. Everyone just dismisses it in favour of simply obtaining the buff and going about their business. Maybe more “personalised” messages would stop people a little more often and tell them about the guilds who put them up for everyone? It would, I imagine, even be simple enough to implement. I imagine there’s other functions it could have too, with a little more time.

Not wanting to start a whine thread about reward loot, but here goes.

It does feel a little unfair when some players can 100% explore zones, for example, with a level cap of 80 (or in the case of “Cursed shore” a zone intended for level 80 only) and obtain level 80 exotics from each, while some players down to the “luck of the draw” are given rewards at a lesser level. Getting level 78 exotics from fully exploring Cursed Shore felt like something of a let down considering it is a level 80 zone.

Short and to the point, the reward level of armour/weapon pieces from exploration should be standardised, preferably to the high end of the level range. It does make sense, as by the time one completes a zone, they are expected to have reached, or be close to reaching the recommended level cap of the zone. Full exploration in fact practically requires them to be at such a stage to successfully navigate all of the content there, does it not?