Guild Wars 2

Artemis Noir.3804:

lol, I feel a bit stupid asking, but what do you mean by “full TP in box?” And thanks by the way.

100+ items waiting for collection in your Trading Post delivery box.

Artemis Noir.3804:

Glad it is not just me…
I also have an annoying bug.. When chests appear in the lower right of my screen and I click on them, they, and their contents, completely vanish. I do not have a full inventory, and they haven’t magically travelled to my vault either, I checked. I have already sent a bug report to customer support, but figured I may as well mention it here too.

Have you checked if you have an full TP in box? I remember adventure reward chests queuing up there when full.

Use your laurels for ascended amulet and skip exotic all together. If you have some wvw badges (250 per amulet iirc), go to the laurel vendor in wvw and save 10 laurel per amulet.

Next I would get to the 1st hot zone (Verdant Brink) and join the meta there and work towards bladed exotic armor (look for maps that are trying to get tier 4 pregression on the meta in the lfg tool). You would get daily rares from learning to get gold on the adventures, and a lot of the achievements/collections you unlock will give out exotic gear (loads of accessories).

Some general advice on the side, I would recommend joining in on any newly released open world pve content that you can when its fresh. The early swarm of players provides a kind of wave that any under-geared player can effectively ride and get good loot while discovering the zone and learning the content. Later when people have moved on and the zones are less regularly full it can be a harder job to get a grasp of the zone, especially when not in the best gear.

Glass Hand.7306:

One thing that is unusual about these nodes is that they can only be harvested once per day per ACCOUNT

Yeah this is a big part of the problem.

It makes it very hard to effectively ramp up supply in response to spikes in demand.

It is the time gating that currently makes the recipes profitable (paying a premium not to wait).

Their price would fall as the gate was removed and more supply came on.

The price of quartz would rise at the same time and, if demand was sustained, gathering quartz would become profitable time wise.

The limiting factor would change from the gate to the supply of quartz and probably ultimately end product demand.

The hints and karka sound effects, make an interesting change from past treasure hunts.

No holding down Ctrl and scanning for coins.

Corner stacking was never only about FGS dps boost.

It was also about:

1) line of sight pulling multiple mobs who have a ranged attack.

2) Similarly to FGS, taking advantage of the wall to get more dps out of skills that use mobility with potential for multiple attacks (eg warrior GS 3).

Until I hit 80 I didn’t realise that you continued to get skill points for lvling up at 80 and so was very conservative with how I spent them, and thought it was insane to use skill points for mystic forge crafting.

Yeah, game repeatedly crashing in sanctum sprint.

fishball.7204:

I put 4 twisters and regularly got rings.

Yeah I just tested it and got an amulet as well.

Still shouldnt be too big a deal if their prices are driven down to salvage value.

Some of the drops that compete with dungeon token craftable jewelry might have an impact, but many of the unusual stat combos not being available as drops and of course the ease with which we can get ascended jewelry anyway mean the impact shouldnt be that big anyway.

The possible outputs will be limited to jewelry that can be dropped not crafted.

Salvaged jewels/gems from these could have an interesting knock on effect for the rest of the jewelry market.

Aberrant.6749:

This problem has really spun out of control.

This pun was the highlight of the thread for me.

Edit Correction on possible outputs.

There is the 20 slot Bandit Coin Purse from the new collection also.

Labjax.2465:

… Anet may have the ultimate call in how goods are generated, but players ultimately decide the quantity to put effort into generating.

Your quote implies that the market is free to react to increased demand by putting a corresponding increased amount of effort and time into generation/supply.

However for a lot of goods the market isn’t able to efficiently react to increased demand as a result of Anet imposed controls.

Diminishing returns, time-gated crafting, static number of resource nodes with set refresh rate, class based loot, and I’m sure other mechanics that I cant think of off the top of my head all prevent the market from ramping up supply of many goods.

Time gating in general, in its various guises, is the basic mechanic used to control/ prevent the markets natural urge to increase supply, and this occurs a lot throughout the game even in the non gold currency areas of the game (dungeon token, fractals, guild commendations, laurels, etc etc).

Outside of what maybe sounds like a new level restriction for the TP, the most convenient method to get to the TP was to port to wvw.

Rook/tower symbol top left of screen. I usually go to home border if no queue since the crafting stations are also close.

Crucially u can log out to character select screen and back on the same character to return to where you were prior to porting to wvw.

If you don’t have long loading screen times, this is a quick and free way of accessing the tp / bank / crafting stations.

Sometimes you even get alerted by map chat and spend a few minutes having some fun on a garri defense.

OP you are overlooking some obvious reasons as to why this situation persists.

There is one overriding reason why it happens.

You can sell on the TP at any time and from any place. Vendors require you to physically go to them to sell.

Combine this fact with the limitations that bag space can put on item gathering / general game play and you can see why people are willing to take a discounted return relative to the price a vendor offers in order to save the time/money involved in finding one.

The value of that saved time/money that would be needed in getting yourself to a vendor can often be many magnitudes greater than the increased return the vendor would offer.

Full or nearly full bags in the following situations:

- Mid run fractal or dungeon.

- Following eotm commander, defending a tower in wvw and you have a few seconds lull in the fight.

- Just got onto a good megaserver for a boss fight and you are waiting for him to spawn, no near by vendor and wp will go contested when boss spawns.

And countless other situations where the time/opportunity cost/money involved in getting to a vendor is not worth the extra return on the sale.

Silver Fed costs around 9 times the cost of Mystic kits, not including the initial gem purchase.

Copper Fed can be replaced with karma bought with the option of going for higher % chance of rare mats and upgrades.

Both do offer good convenience in time and space saved.

They should just give you the actual dyes you have duplicates of back.

Speculation over the requirements for the Spinal Blades component “Gifts of Wine” has seen a significant increase in demand for Grapes.

The question I’m interested in is whether or not some of this demand is being fueled by “informed” investors? Those with access to the test servers etc.

Price spikes in the run up to patch releases indicating informed purchases is a pattern we are use to, and I don’t expect an official response on the specifics of Gifts of Wine from anet prior to the information becoming public.

But having said that I think it’s worth highlighting what could turn out to be another example of this, in order to give the rest of us the opportunity to follow this as it unfolds, and anet the opportunity to investigate the trades (if they indeed do know why there might be a future increase in grape demand).

I’m interested to hear what others think, not only about Grapes in this case but the wider issue of informed/insider trading. How prevalent do you feel it is, and do you think anything is done to prevent it and provide a deterrent?

Nice work Natsu.

Under benefits section, you could add the increase in base armor on the ascended which was around 5% more than exotic last I checked (similar to the base dps increase on the weapons).

The business model adopted means that what would make the most fun game is not at all times what the developers believe would make the most profitable game.

These compromises are at the heart of all the TP’s problems, and I believe they inevitably end up corrupting more and more of the game.

You usually have to try a few times to get it all to load, restart the bltc viewer and try sold again.

Nearly always works for me by the third attempt and rarely at the first.

Unless you want some extra utility or survivability, I’d just stick to dps the orbs give.

If you think you may want some toughness, condition removal, or healing utility test out the sets in pvp.

I guess the utility from sigil of strength is going to depend on your crit rates (base, full buffed, typical etc)

I personally go for accuracy or rage.

Ok, so the person selling 20 @ 76.2S is the same person buying 500 @ 76S.

If the market is highly liquid (ie large volume of trades even over a short time frame) then that person is trying to convince as many sellers as possible to take his instant 76s offer rather than try to undercut the 76.2s for very little extra return and an uncertain time frame.

This is possible because when you choose the sell on tp option for an item you only get information showing you the highest buyer and the lowest seller. You do not receive any information regarding other sellers (without doing a separate search as a buyer) with which to determine if the lowest current seller may have mispriced .

If the market for the item is huge you see this quite a lot, and to a certain degree I think you see some typo mispricing that ends up having the same effect.

When you see the 20 @ 76.2S sale offer, what is the highest buy offer and volume?

Clock Tower for me is a classic moment from the game as a whole and not just a great JP. The impact that it created, both positive and negative for different people, has made it very memorable.

I was rubbish at first, but I love a challenge and enjoy incrementally improving at things. So my stubborn side eventually prevailed and Clock Tower ended up being a sort of overall JP training course.

Timed nature, and the additional challenge of extra looting on the way up gave it good longevity.

After CT, I did all the rest and the ones that stand out in my memory are:

1) The eagle nest one where you need to blow up the chest.

2) The one in metrica which has 3 parts to it and goes on for ages but had a nice puzzle side to it iirc.

3) One which had you standing at 45 degrees on pyramids and porting through lightning stuff.

4) The one with the pirate ship at the end that referenced The Goonies made me smile.

On the whole they have been a great part of the gaming experience for me, and I’d like to thank those involved in make the JPs.

Speculating on the marketing tactics of a gold seller’s in game mail is all good and well.

But wouldn’t it be more interesting if Anet employees told us about their own marketing tactics?

This wouldn’t require any speculation on their part, and would still have plenty of potential to “educate”.

On the topic of gold, Anet could educate us on their marketing tactics with regards to gem sales. Specifically marketing aimed at encouraging gems purchased with a view to converting them into gold.

What marketing and game design decisions have Anet made in order to encourage those within their player base who are relatively time poor and cash rich to buy gems with a view to converting them into gold?

And does Anet feel that it is the demand generated by these same game design and marketing decisions that illegal gold sellers then exploit to make their money?

These imho are more interesting questions that Anet could address. They wouldn’t require speculation and there wouldn’t be the potential for mistaking an attempt at educating as condescending sarcasm.

Rata Sum is good.

More than animation grievances, the bigger problem is that the returning blade and its corresponding dps and cc potential disappears with a weapon swap.

Example 1: You attack with bladetrail and follow up with hundred blades. Your character throws the outbound bladetrail and it hits and then you start your HB hits, in the middle of which the returning inbound bladetrail will also hit.

Example 2: You attack with bladetrail and swap to main hand axe for cyclone followed but chop chain. The outbound bladetrail hits and once u switch to axe to start axe dps (instead of HB) you loose your return bladetrail.

There isn’t a logical reason for the difference and it effects a lot of other skills as well. It punishes fast anticipatory play, which is a basic tenet for skillful pvp.

Another example is weapon swapping mid-air with eviscerate.

Gold dye price seems to be dropping again, but you could always just make a buy offer at the price 1g xxs price that you are happy with and risk free retract it at any time.

The other thing worth mentioning is that a lot of the good colours often have better version that come in non standard names.

So for Black dye you also check Abyss, Celestial for White, etc.

For Gold you should also check the currently cheaper and imo better Illumination dye.

On BLTC the tab “Sell on Trading Post” provides potential sellers with “Meet highest buyer” and “Match lowest seller” price points / options.

Prospective sellers are to use that information to decide on if and how to make their sale.

On deciding on whether to opt for the immediate liquidity benefits and no listing fee risk of the “Meet highest buyer” option, or to instead go for a higher return but uncertain time frame and fee risk of listing at a higher price, a seller needs more than just these two price points to make an informed choice.

They also need to know the other prices above “Match lowest seller” that are currently on the market.

So as a seller in order to make an informed decision, you currently have to first check things as a buyer (“Buy more at trading post” right click on the item you want to sell). The information provided here gives you a clearer picture of the market with which to make a proper decision and you can then also spot highest buyers attempts at convincing you to take their offer.

Typically a highest buyer buying at large volumes will currently list a few units at just above his highest buyer offer so as to make them the lowest seller and encourage as many people as possible to take the immediate sale option since they are ignorant that the next lowest seller is significantly higher.

The profiteering comes from this ignorance. This ignorance is a result of the BLTC design that requires a seller to 1st search the market as a buyer to become fully informed.

It would be an easy fix to change this and in the process make the market more efficient and (and maybe even reduce some BLTC server load from those who currently feel forced to search the market twice for every sale).

Additionally, information regarding the volume of sales over given time periods would be very useful.

Scammed no.

Manipulated possibly yes. This would however have carried risks on the part of the seller/s if it turns out that they successfully encouraged you to raise the price you were willing to pay.

The worst part is we are never informed of the odds/probabilities, and so we can’t make informed choices.

Be it trying to get a precursor from the forge, opening BLCs, Trick or Treat bags, or any number of other things Anet attempt to entice us towards, we are encouraged to have a go with no clue as the chance of success and no way to evaluate our outcomes (were we really unlucky after so many tries or are the odds really this poor etc).

This is a guaranteed recipe for leaving a bad taste in a significant number of players mouths.

Anet may well believe that with an uninformed player base they are likely to make more revenue through the gem store via their gambles, but I believe at best this would hold true for the short term only. Medium to long term, you cant have a successful business model that consistently leaves big chunks of your revenue earners feeling like dupes/mugs.

At least at the casino or lottery I can work out the odds if I want to. If and when I then decide to regret a decision I’ve made, I can hold myself responsible.

With GW2 the only thing we know is that we don’t know.

All these development hours being used to entice blind gambling could have been put to making the game fun, and no crossing your fingers and buying countless chests or throwing countless gold into the forge is never long term endgame fun.

Adjusting the camera for birds eye view was the main thing that helped me.

From what I can tell the price rise is due to change in the respawn time on mithril nodes.

It’s to make sure that questions like this remain in the realm of theory craft, that we don’t have, and most likely won’t get, a 1 v 1 arena with a leaderboard / ladder etc.

Anything that categorically highlights class imbalance is always going to be a headache for the developer.

The reality is, that if we did have a way to measure relative class performance there is no way that with the breadth of different class play styles and abilities that we currently have that there wouldn’t be clear winners and losers.

There will probably always be, but the important thing is the margin by which certain classes prevail in certain functions. My personal opinion is that even with regards to the margins, the current state of the game wouldn’t look too healthy given objective ways to measure it.

This is ruining tournament play.

Suffering from this regularly also.

Arty O Donnell.1576:

Rez.8016:

Even under your old system, a trial account could have got lucky and received a precursor 1st time from the forge (or even 2 out of 4 tries, like from the chest).

This is the nature of a system based on chance.

The screenshot looks like a very strange trial account. 46 gold, 1750 crystal, max bag slots, Halloween bag, etc. Looks at least like some decent amount of time/money was invested in that character.

Re-read my post, where have i stated that the screenshot provided was of one of the trial guys? I also mention other people in my guild getting 2 precursors, and this is one of them. The fact that the trial player could ping the 2 precursors was already enough.

There’s no point in a screenshot which doesn’t help illustrate the claim you are making.

Nevertheless whether a trial account got lucky or not, doesn’t detract from the fact that they could have been lucky under any other system (including the forge) that involves chance.

The entire thread, and the complaint within it, is only relevant if as a player you base the value of owning precursors & legendarys relative to how many others don’t have them.

If on the other hand you are a player who thinks something looks cool, and stays looking cool whether or not a lot of others also own them, then it would be good news that 2 more precursors entered the market. The same case for the player for whom the incentive is completing the legendary achievement.

If your vanity requires you to feel a distinction from others by obtaining what you believe to be a rare (even rare by lottery chance) cosmetic item, and the pleasure you get from flaunting is lessened when you perceive the item to be more common, then you will always be a mug to the game developer who will either milk your time or money.

Once the mugs have been milked, the item is usually made more readily available for others.

All very predictable.

Even under your old system, a trial account could have got lucky and received a precursor 1st time from the forge (or even 2 out of 4 tries, like from the chest).

This is the nature of a system based on chance.

The screenshot looks like a very strange trial account. 46 gold, 1750 crystal, max bag slots, Halloween bag, etc. Looks at least like some decent amount of time/money was invested in that character.

There will always be one of the variables that make up a recipe as the limiting factor, into which the money pours and as the queue builds the price rises.

This is fine and to be expected (and nothing really to get excited by accurately predicting). The reason that more precursors are good, and crucially more that are obtained from a different method, is because the old source of precursors was a high stakes gamble with a very low and unestablished probability of success.

It encourages a lot of reckless attempts to get the precursor and can result in people having wildly different expectations of their chances of success relative to the real unknown odds (much like trying to get special halloween items with purchased keys from the BLC).

Introducing new sources of precursors, for those who still need to be lucky, but are doing something which is rewarding in its own right beyond a pure gamble for a precursor is a great idea.

If you get lucky from the chest, great! If not hopefully you enjoyed the event and get some other rewarding loot (even if its significantly lesser rewarding).

This has to be good news, compared to throwing gold into the forge and crossing your fingers.

Backs need a search filter on Trading Post.

Backs are more readily available of the TP now, and thus need their own search filter.

What we need is a recipe (forge would be best) to upgrade the number of slots in the ToT bag. Maybe even be able to make it safe, weapon, craft, junk also.

I would love to be able to make it 20 slot safe for my main who is holding it.

I think the Clock Tower JP is great.

The rush means I cant stop myself from continuously redoing it.

I’d like to suggest that Anet make more JP in this style but add a timer that could save our personal best times.

The challenge to learn how to shave off small amounts of time, much like any racing game, could add many hours of fun.

Any support for this idea?

The hardest part is getting a good chance to learn the route as a result of your view being restricted by others and the time pressure of the green cloud/slime.

To deal with this my advice is to willingly sacrifice some runs to learn parts well and get a good look at them.

The part of the puzzle just after the 1st pause/wait for the platforms to emerge is in a way the hardest to do very well. It is worth doing that part purposefully slowly a few times, and inevitably get caught by the cloud, in order to commit it to memory well and not just learn how to get through it but eventually figure out how to get through it fast.

If you can do the initial parts after the 1st wait very fast, you buy the necessary time to take small pauses where needed further up the tower.

I’m happy its resolved.

I got my replacement box.

It was probably the most practical solution to implement, and regardless of relative change in in-game value, it demonstrates that as customers our legitimate complaint was not totally ignored, which in itself is very valuable.

I bought the box for 17g and the market value of the galdiator’s is 1g80.

The problem is that for the market to correctly price those oversupplied crafting items, their unit price would have needed to drop bellow 1c (ie allow at the very least 2 units for 1c). Their value was hard fixed by the their vendor price.

So doing nothing meant they were stuck incorrectly priced and building up in number fast.

I agree though that the implemented solution (which is limited in time spam by design) was always going to benefit some lucky few disproportionately.

However, I do think it was a good idea to do something and they did mention some more long term solutions through adjusting drop rates etc. Although you have to wonder if the huge influx in supply was a reflection of the current wave of low level players and thus not a problem that may be experienced with low tier items in the real long term once the game settles.