Guild Wars 2

Here’s something worth considering.

Naoko.7096:

My suggestion to the devs is to make the BLC other loots to be worth the money.

There was one mmo I once played which has RNG gambling with real money too. They handled it better. No one complaint for not receiving the top prize. People spent hundreds who didn’t get the top prize but still feel satisfactory. The top prizes chances are less than 1% like this game too. However, the other loots from the boxes are really worth the money. They even partition it to top prizes, rare prizes, uncommon prizes and common prizes. Their common prizes doesn’t even make them feel punished.

In GW2, the non-prize loots in the chests feel like an extra baggage that reduces my bag slots (very punishing). Furthermore, those items have no solid use too (seriously node tools with 10 uses? extra boosters which is least demand?). It’s punishing instead of rewarding. This game is new which I understand. They can still work towards improvements dealing towards RNG with real money in the future.

And this too.

Naoko.7096:

1) The misc loots in “Black Lion Chests” are punishing instead of rewarding. After I tried few chests, I can’t stand it anymore how it takes up my precious inventory slots. The loots are terrible too. RNG real-money gambling should learn from mmo like Granado Espada (Asia). They’re fun, rewarding and players doesn’t mind spending hundreds of dollars. They have many tier prizes instead of just top prize and junks. I suggest the dev to do some research on the game I mentioned to pick up some good elements dealing with RNG + money = Fun.

2) Players shouldn’t complain too much about the chests because it’s a personal choice. The chests gambling to get super rare exclusive skins are good but I agree that they should’ve handled it better. I doubt they would change it at the middle of the event because it won’t be fair towards players who achieve/bought the exclusive weapon skins beforehand. Let them improve. It’s their first attempt on this.

I do believe that the inclusion of mid-tier rarity rewards may actually serve well to placate players, so they will not feel punished, with the deep, sinking emptiness in their stomachs, and instead have something rare, but not super rare, to walk away with.

A fine example will be an online Japanese card game I was playing, that provides special holiday themed event cards or packs you can buy during certain holidays. There are five different rarity for cards, one star (Common), two stars (Uncommon), three stars (Rare), four stars (Rarer), five stars (Super Rare). Buying one pack gives you a couple of one star and two stars, but guarantees you a three star card at least, with a chance of getting a five star card. I was actually quite satisfied pouring a reasonable amount of money (somewhere upward to hundreds) into the game because I was actually getting something useful and worthwhile out of it.

Now, if we were to apply the BLC concept to the card game pack, it will be quite similar to opening a pack and only finding one stars (judging from player sentiments about the default BLC rewards), with a chance of getting a five star super rare card. That makes the “chance” the only thing people are paying for, instead of the rewards itself. That can be quite punishing indeed.

Another suggestion I have to build onto what I’ve just mentioned, is to actually allow the certain unique combination (mystic forging) of several mid-tier rarity items, into more unique super rare items. That way, even if players may feel the mid-tier rarity items not as useful, they’ll still have a definite chance (provided they’ve collected the right components), to get something very rare and rewarding as well.

Finally, I’d like to remind you good folks who are still debating on the subject on how bad the BLC is, and drawing comparisons to bad restaurant food and the likes, that the Black Lion Chest came with its full original content and rewards, plus a chance at getting the Halloween skins. That means the skin is an added on bonus. If you’d have bought the chest before the event, you’ll be pretty much getting the same thing, minus the chance of a skin. Perhaps the real issue here, is that the BLC contents are simply not worth the gem cost, skin or no, and that may be something ArenaNet might want to look into.

I believe many of you folks misunderstand what I meant by “entitlement” in this particular context.

Do players who feel ripped off have a right to air their views and complain? Yes.

Do the aforementioned players need to insult others for having a different opinion (i.e ArenaNet isn’t an evil gaming corporation bent on sucking your purse dry. )? Not at all.

Do they have to make it sound like ArenaNet owe it to them because they, supposely, have a huge bank account and would otherwise be a fantastic patron, if only ArenaNet would pander to their whims? Absolutely not.

When players thoughtlessly demand or imply that ArenaNet should tweak the odds in their favor, despite the fact that there are other fellow players who have already paid the price, be it in real life money or in game gold, at the original premium and odds, that is “entitlement”, because the first group believe that they deserve more than the second group. That is not fair. It’s an ugly “me, me, me” attitude and it colors the entire side of the community that believes that they have been hard done.

It renders otherwise perfectly rational and applicable views and complains rather inert, which is very sad, because I’ve seen some really good and sensible responses. And instead of condemning such an ugly act, it seemed like as a whole community, the act is condoned, perhaps even encouraged, because the louder the inconsiderate players whine, the more ArenaNet, it seems, would lean in favor of making things easier.

I’ve no issues at all with people voicing their displeasure. I have issues with people voicing their displeasure, taking potshots at others, and making it sound like ArenaNet and life owes them. When you come out here and brandish, “I’d have spent thousands of dollars if ArenaNet had caved in to my demands. Lol, I’ll just spend it on some random competition now. Well done ANet, you just lost my big fat purse.” It’s rather disgusting and it does not contribute anything constructive.

On the other hand, constructive feedback really earns my respect, like how one player mentioned in a topic that ArenaNet should consider adding weapon skins to the gem store to be purchasable via a set amount of gems, to make them accessible to players, while keeping some of them rare via only Black Lion Chests. I personally believe that it is a brilliant idea.

More than anything, I understand that my views are solely my own, and it isn’t the only truth and it is at best only right for me alone, and not everyone else. It is in the realm of fools to believe otherwise; that your opinion is right and thus you should impose it on everyone else and insult those who disagree. Though it seems right now, many are content playing the fool, no?

Edit: For those players who feel like they’ve not gotten anything out of the holiday event because they didn’t get the skin they want, you can consider doing what I did. I’ve spent a total of a little over 3000 gems. 700 on a Mad King’s outfit, 700 on a Witch’s outfit, 200ish for the Phantom Hood, 500 on the Halloween miniature pet set, and 900 gems for 10 Black Lion keys. I did not know what the odds were going to be, but either way, I wasn’t going to pour in hundreds of dollars to get the skin I’d like. If anything, the sensible thing to do is to purchase it off the Trading Post once my ten attempts failed. ArenaNet made the skins tradeable, hence making them much more accessible. Ultimately, I walked away with more than a few Halloween unique goodies, and nary a foul taste in my mouth.

It’s rather amusing to see some of the complaints even after ArenaNet has given them another go with the Mad King Chest option.

For those of you who think ArenaNet should tweak the odds of the chest in your favor with this update, has it slipped your mind while you’re feeling entitled, or are you too blinded by your own selfishness to see how that would be incredibly unfair to the players who put in anywhere from tens to hundreds of dollars, or hours earning gold, to purchase keys to open the Black Lion Chest at the initial odds in order to get the skin they want? Or those players who bought them off the Trading Post when they commanded a much heftier price tag because of their rarity?

And to those who whined about how they’ve spent X amount of dollars and they’re not getting the skin they want, or how this is ruining Halloween and the game for them and their dog, or how they won’t be spending any more money on gems because they feel cheated and they’re going to some other kiddy-gloved MMO to spend their money on, here’s a bit of a wake-up call: You’re not entitled. Life doesn’t owe you anything and ArenaNet certainly should not go out of the way to make YOU, out of so many players, feel special and give you everything you want because you are exceptional at whining.

The skins were meant to be rare. ArenaNet has not in any way misrepresented how the rewards will be given, they did not guarantee you that you will get a skin every ten chests opened. Even if they did, you’d probably find some other thing to complain about, like how you didn’t get the skin you specifically want after opening 50 chests. Haters are going to hate. Whiners are going to find something to whine about.

If anything, I do feel sorry for folks like Shirahama and MikeRocks, who are the real losers out of this deal, because ArenaNet decided to be nice and obliged the other folks who excelled at complaining.

Life isn’t half as kind. If you dumped in a hundred thousand in the casino thinking you’re going to come out with that ten million jackpot, but ended up walking away with nothing, life will not be giving you a second chance in the form of a Mad King Chest. So learn to appreciate it.

Apart from all that rant (It had to be done. It was rather disgusting to see how selfish, entitled and self-justified some folks can be), I’m enjoying the Halloween event tremendously. It is a good piece of work. Well done.