Guild Wars 2

Exedore.6320:

Not all elite specializations are designed for utility/support. Reaper is supposed to be damage and debuff, but the greatsword is too weak and so are its shouts. No one really knows what Dragonhunter is supposed to be.

I’m referring to utility skills, not utility as a role. Even looking at the Ranger’s Trap skill, it’s definitely much better than the Guardian’s.

Boons and conditions caused by traps last longer. Traps recharge faster and offensive ones cause cripple.

Velimere.7685:

Not all elite specializations are designed equally.

Not sure what that has to do with the topic. I’m saying the traits that effect utility traits are very underwhelming/underpowered. Chronomancer’s also seems underwhelming.

Wells remove conditions from allies when they end.

Compare that to Glamours, or Deception. It’s pretty lackluster. I imagine Shouts are also subpar compared to Cantrips, at least as far as traits are concerned.

I’m sure they will patch improvements to these things. I’m just suggesting it should be a priority before release.

I’ll keep it as short as possible. After playing Reaper and Dragonhunter, I’ve noticed a pretty clear lack of utility support in those two elite specializations that exists with other traits. Just for example, look at the Meditation and Shout traits for Guardian.

Using a meditation skill heals you and grants fury to allies in a radius. Mediation skills have reduced recharge.

Allies affected by shouts have conditions converted to boons. Shout abilities have their recharge reduced.

These are game changing utility traits. They define the Medi or Shout builds respectively. What’s the trap trait for Dragonhunter?

Trap hits bleed enemies.

This trait would only effect, realistically, carrion Guardians who run procession of blades. The bleed duration isn’t very long, anyway.

The same is true of Necromancer. You get traits that boost signets, minions, etc, all of which reduce cooldowns, or give you trait abilities on certain conditions. It all results in synergy and might stacking, or minions which can be used faster, and which throw down a poison nova on death.

Some of these traits are in the same line, and some are not. My suggestion is to change the utility traits to Grandmaster line for elite specialization, and to make them really meaningful. At the very least, the cooldown reduction should be considered baseline, and a primary benefit needs to be added to make these traits effective.

For example, a Grandmaster trait for Dragonhunter traps may give a bigger radius, bleeds, and a reduced cooldown. A grandmaster for Reaper shouts may give some boon on every target hit, and reduced cooldown (not dependent on targets hit). Maybe a group beneficial boon as well.

I haven’t played Chronomancer or Tempest yet, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they were also lacking in support for their utilities. As it is, Dragonhunter is still dependent on Meditation utilities. I think that’s a mistake, and you’ll end up patching this problem eventually. I hope you do it before release.

Shriketalon.1937:

The Magnanimous Seven
An isolated little town in Ascalon is engulfed in a Blightstorm, completely cut off from the rest of the world. Desperate for supplies and shelter, the starving forces of the Renegade and Separtist bands turn hungry eyes and sharpened blades towards the small hamlet. The peaceful ranchers and craftsman are ill prepared for the looming conflict that encroaches upon their doorstep and turn to seven heroes brought together by pure circumstance to save them from annihilation. Updates and improves Ascalonian regions.

Featuring Ember Doomforge, Laranthir of the Wild, Wynnet Fairhaired, Sayeh al’Rajihd, Genzhou Talonrend, and Eilyne Jeyne.

I’m going to need you to take all of my money at this point.

Would I love a Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai homage in any game, even Tetris? Absolutely, but this is the type of injection of new ideas that the game desperately needs right now. Most of the concepts you’re describing are not unlike the way The Secret World releases “Issues” that feature exclusive quest lines, skins, accessories, titles, etc. Guild Wars 2 could make serious money doing the same, and we could get an opportunity to go back and see some characters we’ve known and loved (or hated.)

I thought the idea of us stepping on Braham’s toes was also clever. One of the things that ArenaNet lacks, though, is bite. Every aspect of the game, from balancing, to new content, to story, is rather toothless, and nothing about that has changed since launch.

I feel like people aren’t even reading the entire thread…

I feel like I may have twisted a few buttons unintentionally

Kiel won! WAAAAH.

WAAAH. You left out all our cool Halloween 2012 stuff. I want the mad king’s dungeon thing!

But, but, you removed my favorite path of Twilight Arbor! WAAAAH.

Unintentionally, you say?

Prysin.8542:

yup… september is most likely the next one, as that would perfectly fit into their 6 month patching schedule.

Six more months of “updated tooltip to reflect x” huh? That’s a bit grim.

Probably. If you piece together the story of the Kodan and the Age of Giants, it seems like their primary form’s permanently malleable in large groups, and temporarily for individuals. They would have been exposed to the Jotunn and the Gods during the Age of Giants. At that time, everyone seemed to be throwing around a lot of power (in the case of the Jotunn, supposedly almost rivaling the Gods).

So that’s my narriative. Kodan tribe goes south, sheds the bear form, looks human/giantlike, sticks with that. I’m pretty sure their Havroun can just go into the Mists at will too, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Norn started out as something like Razah in Guild Wars 1, way back when.

_"The protomatter that makes up the Mists strains toward creation, often spawning demonic creations in nightmarish forms. Not all creatures from the Mists are demonic, however. When the Mists come into contact with a suitable human template, for example, it can copy that form, creating a sentient entity with humanoid appearance and an almost human mind. " _ – from the Guild Wars wiki.

Then, you take into account that the Havroun are connected to the Spirits and travel to the Mists due to that, wouldn’t surprise me if the Spirits themselves were just big protomist beings of a more primal nature. Not refined, but powerful. Then it makes sense why the Norn followed them and communed with them in their time of need, and why the Spirits look after the Norn accordingly, like a tribe of orphans.

I think it takes extreme events or revelations to change their primary physical form though. And all of this is just speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.

jsduke.6537:

Man, I respect the time you took to put this together, but I disagree with pretty much every suggestion you make.

And, respectfully, I disagree that the Living Story is great. I also disagree that we should be focusing on matters other than the Dragons at the moment. Take a look at the logo for a moment. Consider what the plot of the game was at launch, and the entire premise behind many of the zones in the game. The theme is the invasion of the dragons and their minions. The Asura had to deal with them (Destroyers), the Norn had to deal with them (Jormag, Sons of Svanir), the humans had to deal with them (Orr), the Charr had to deal with them(Branded). The Sylvari may or may not be related to them by birth, but they still have Orrians in their backyard regardless.

I don’t think it’s a mark of good writing to simply brush by this entire basis of the story to inject an entirely new and thus far unrelated threat as being at the forefront of the story. I think the unrelated part is what is really bothersome about the LS: If Scarlet was being motivated by the chaos, or the unbound magic, of dragons and their conflicts, that might be interesting. She still could be, of course, since it’s been hinted in her origin story that she has a much broader perspective on the mechanics of this universe. If Southsun and the Consortium were a result of that same chaos, that might be interesting.

Instead, we saw a continent of stories, and instead are focusing on these unrelated islands of plot. Obviously, there’s room for that sort of thing, but when they become the main focus of the story for months on end (it has been more than half a year at this point, hasn’t it?) then it may be time to reconsider a few things.

Also, and just speaking from my own personal view on the Living Story, I’m finding it to be pretty lackluster. If I were this far into an episodic show, and all we got were more teasers for a villain that was unrelated to the initial premise, I’d have to assume the writers had a concept with no clear vision of how to actually tie it to the premise of the show, and were instead attempting to stretch it out as much as possible to make money off of the “mystery” instead of the actual quality of the storytelling.

With that in mind, it’s entirely possible that they can and perhaps will turn the Living Story around. As it is, I feel it is a vehicle for the cash shop, and little else.

In PVE, make bleeding, poison, burning, etc, cause a self buff instead of stacking on the target to cause damage. “Your next attack bleeds the target for extra damage,” “Your next attack burns the target for extra damage,” etc. The target still gets a debuff for a certain duration every time it gets bled, burned, or poisoned, like vulnerability. Poisoned would still do what poison does. Burned could cause an increase in damage taken from fire attacks, explosions, and burning damage itself. Bled could cause an increase in crit damage on the target and eat away at stacks of Defiant every second or every other second. Accordingly, give more enemies the ability to heal themselves, resist crit damage, etc to compensate.

Every time you do an attack that would stack bleed on the target normally, you would instead stack yourself with a “causes bleeding” buff. The buff adds a tail of damage after each hit based on your bleed damage, or it could all count up at once. Condition duration remains the same, so in this case it would act like boon duration. Epidemic still spreads conditions to all enemies, with the addition of hitting them all with the full ticks of the bleed buff damage (you have 10 stacks, it ticks for 10 bleed damage on each target whenever you make a strike.)

Burning would work the same way, you do an extra tick of damage for a “burn” while the burn condition duration/buff is up for you. Same with poison. These buffs also apply damage to structures, even if the debuff part of the spell wouldn’t be present.

While this does remove the “damage over time” aspect of conditions, it makes the bleed cap on targets a non-issue. It also keeps the spirit of flat and steady damage based on building stacks. Condition duration would extend the length of these self buffs. The change would also diversify the current dungeon meta, possibly make crowd control more effective on bosses, and give condition users a way to gain credit on world bosses, and do damage to structures. I don’t believe it would “increase bandwidth usage” by as much as removing the bleed cap altogether, but I’m not a technology expert.

Problems with the idea that I see:

Needs a mechanic for removing condition buffs from the player, possibly, to increase the difficulty of PVE for condition users. I think there may need to be more enemies that strip boons in general.
Radical shift from the mechanics of PVP.
Edit: Maybe an additional mechanic to limit or increase the amount of stacks you yourself can have, to favor condition users (i.e., non-condition specced or geared players can only generate 10 bleed buffs or less.) This might add a mechanic similar to crit damage % for condition users without the RNG. It would also give people who use Rampagers and other hybrid specs a supplement for lacking in crit damage %.

HuntsForge.3260:

Making weapons dyeable has been suggested before and I think that would be the preferred outcome. If they removed the pink now it would cause outcry amongst those who like the current style and already have them or are working towards them.

Well, I didn’t want to make this another “please add weapon dyes” post. I’m sure ArenaNet has seen many of those. I just wanted to illustrate how the alternate color set might look better for these weapons in particular. Personally, I would love it if they added even a limited number of color dyes (three or so for each skin.)

Edit: Seems like it takes a while for the attachments to show up. In any event, here are just three of them. I think the shield came out a bit odd, but otherwise I would say they’re an improvement over the current look of the models. They showcase more of the actual texture than the glowing magenta, which I think is a bit gaudy. I’m sure the concept art for these looked incredible, but in game they just don’t have the same impact. Not when most armor looks different, most lighting doesn’t play well with the differences in shades, etc.

I’m a fan of the design of the Nightmare Weapons. As someone who just leveled a warrior to 80 that looks, at the moment, like a Nightmare Court type of character, it’s only natural that I lean toward the plant-type weapons. Unfortunately, the options here are rather limited. While I understand that the basic skin (verdant) and the Tier 3 cultural weapon (warden) have a certain look and color, why does the Nightmare Court weaponry have to be magenta/hot pink?

Since beta, I’ve glanced at these weapons, thought about maybe roughing it out, but decided against it. They just clash with a lot of stuff, and I don’t think they need to. I decided to mess around with a few screenshots of them, and remove the magenta. I think they turned out pretty well. I’m sure not everyone will agree, but I think they look much more like what they’re supposed to: twisted, natural weaponry.

I really enjoy Consecration builds in WvW. You may enjoy 20 in virtues at least for that very reason. You may also enjoy the longer time on the elite for smaller group skirmishes, as it can let you throw out two group quickness buffs instead of one with Tome of Wrath.

I think you have a lot more flexibility with WvW builds because there’s simply a lot more that needs to be done. There’s much more value with area control like reflects and projectile defense bubbles. You might have fun with Staff and Mace/Shield, for example, and the damage on mace isn’t quite so bad either. Spirit Shield and Bow are also very fun to use.

Personally, I am running 30/0/30/10/0 right now. I may try it in WvW, but it is meant to be a front line greatsword user build. I know 30 in Zeal is not often well received, but thus far I am enjoying the passive regen options, the moderate toughness, the high crit damage, and very high power (3400 unbuffed is not too shabby.) I took AH over Monk’s Focus to reap the benefits of the self-buff from GS’s might on third chain, Save Yourself, and other shouts I can use to stay alive. So far it has served me well in most content I have used it in.

I think you will find that there are a lot more unexplored territory in WvW builds specifically. It is much more geared toward what role you want to serve in an army of many, instead of a small group of five.

Apologies ahead of time, I am not a math person at all.

Just a little rough estimation but I think the chance of getting a token is 5%, or 1 in 20. I just added up a few of the totals some people were reporting who actually got a token, not including the massive 100+160+300 figure posted earlier.

It’s actually 4.7% but 5% seems like it would be the rounded amount that ArenaNet would use.

If you include the massive lists of failures who still got a token it’s like 2% or so, and if you include the people who got nothing, 1%. That’s just based on what’s been posted in this thread, keep in mind.

Auesis.7301:

If you must know, I’m running 0/30/30/10/0 with a mix of Berserker/Valkyrie armor and a mix of Berserker/Knight/Cavalier accessories, sitting at around 3000 attack, 230% crit damage and 2.7k-ish armor, using S/D + SB. In-slot Shadow Arts and Critical Strikes traits and some utilities are the only things I feel the need to change depending on the situation.

I’m interested in knowing more about this build and how you get those stat numbers. 3k attack and 230% crit damage seems pretty high (I haven’t hit 80 on my Thief yet.) but I am always interested in knowing more about sword/dagger as a weapon combo since it seems to often be neglected.

I’d be interested in trying this. Do you think Side Strike might be a better pick over Critical Haste considering the stuns though? You may end up using the 7% crit more often than the haste on the 30 second cooldown.

Replace Body Shot with Lead Poisoning (cripple + poison)
Replace Unload with a frontal cone bleed barrage similar to Death Blossom but ranged
Make major trait to make shots ricochet also increase size and duration of Black Powder field.

Make Death Blossom power/crit focused that causes vulnerability instead of bleeds.

Also, is it just me or does ricochet actually hurt your unload damage on your target since it seems to bounce a shot intended for the first target to the second target instead of the shot hitting your first target first, then your second target second?

frans.8092:

Just curious, how do people do all these DPS measurements?

They don’t. They’re just guessing. I’m not kidding. A vast majority of DPS discussion is just guessing because big numbers. If/when you see any serious discussion over DPS it’s usually based off of killing golems in the mists (the time it takes to down them)

Was it a Sylvari with a red spiky head? Because I was doing this to people a few days ago on my Ranger. And it’s very, very fun.

Roughly 1300 healing power only gets you about another 20 or so healing per AH application.

There is not much point in going past 10 Zeal, no. Our Greatsword and Scepter traits are pretty lackluster for Majors (just 5% damage increase, and you have to choose one or the other.) We don’t have enough immobilizes for the extra vulnerability (1% damage) to be useful. Past 20 really is just for the Spirit Weapons. You could maybe do 20/20/30/0/0 for increased burst while using Greatsword (symbols applying vulnerability might get 2-3% more damage on the target, and the flat 5% Greatsword damage increase), but in most situations, like sPVP or dungeons, the increased damage on targets with conditions from Radiance’s 25 point minor trait is still most likely more consistent and effects all weapons. Not to mention another 5 points nets you 15% more crit with 1H weapons, in the event that you want to use them for your other weapon set. I personally run Greatsword and Scepter/Torch at the moment.

SpelignErrir.4263:

I don’t see why people are saying torch is an “offensive” weapon. It’s 5 skill is useful only for healing allies, it does less damage than even the mace AA chain.

Because you can use the fire breathing over top of scepter’s smite, which can stack up from anywhere between 6k to 10k damage on a single target, and for three targets in a cone you can hit for around 20k or so, or higher depending on your Cleansing Flame mostly since smite gets split between targets. So I wouldn’t say it’s only useful for healing allies, but I would say it’s only useful when paired with Scepter, because you can’t layer other single attacks with Cleansing Flame other than Mace’s symbol.

Just to respond to most of the thread after my last post, it is true that people have different playstyles. Healing Guardians and Support Guardians are obviously viable alternatives to a straight DPS spec, and I myself enjoy Monk’s Focus and using a Staff/Greatsword combination for a good deal of content because it allows for more varied play and support. However, we’re talking about this sword, and healing greatswords in particular. There is a definite situation for which greatswords are used. It is damage. The skills are all for damage or control. If you want to be good support and damage in one weapon, you pick up a Hammer for that, because it is better (protection, combo blast finisher, heals yourself with AH, healing symbols if you trait it, etc.)

I can appreciate that there are different playstyles, and there are lots of different situations, but the Greatsword is a DPS weapon. That is what it is meant to do. I don’t know how much more obvious that could be. I’m not even an elitist in these matters. I like strange specs, I like playing with professions in my group outside of the normal rotation of other Guardians and Warriors, and I’ve even messed around with Condition-based builds even though I’ve already stated they’re not very good, but if someone asks for advice, you give them advice. You shouldn’t give them “well maybes.” If they want to try it out on their own and build a healing spec around Greatsword, they should ask for that specifically.

And yes, Healing Power is the worst stat in the game. It scales horribly. That’s not a question of “should you ever use it,” it just means that you don’t get as much as you probably should for the amount of stat points that you have to invest into it. I understand why that is, of course. If it scaled better you really would get people trying to be straight healers as a part of the trinity system again. They will have to balance it at some point so that people will want to have some of it in a “balanced” spec. As it is right now, you can’t really have a little condition damage, a little healing, etc. The benefits just aren’t worth it.

If you want to try a more offensive spec with healing and survivability, my advice is to invest in Valkyrie gear and pick up 30 in valor so that you get Monk’s Focus or Altruistic Healing. I think Berserker specs are usually bad personally speaking. As long as you maintain a decent amount of crit and crit damage you will be more than fine, and Monk’s Focus is good for most things (sPVP, solo, etc) My current gear is a mix of Valkyrie, Berserker weapons, some soldiers pieces, Beryl (Valkyrie) accessories, and right now I’m doing 10/30/30/0/0. You could easily do 10/0/30/20/0 or even just 0/0/30/20/20 for a hybrid type spec as long as your gear is right while picking up stuff like Altruistic Healing and Empowering Might, or larger symbols. You’re open to a lot more possibilities with damage-focused (but not glass cannon) gear than you are without. You can always spec to heal a bit better or have more healing in general through traits, but if you hit like a wet noodle, the traits aren’t going to help.

Dear ArenaNet,

Underwater combat needs some work. Thankfully, it is only one part of one sPVP map, and select areas of WvWvW, but it may be easier to expand into other areas of PVP if it were tweaked a bit. Earlier, I was in a fight with a Thief underwater. I was killed almost entirely by Flanking Strike, a single move that makes the Thief both evade attacks and deliver an attack at the end. I am sure I am not the only one who feels that some classes get a massive advantage in underwater combat.

If you could consider taking a look at underwater combat at some point (I realize this is a low priority), that would be good. Attached is a damage breakdown for illustrative purposes.

Scepter + Torch is most likely the best (although this isn’t difficult) DPS mainhand/offhand combination strictly from a damage perspective, since you can throw smite on the ground and then use its #5 attack to overlap damage cooldowns.

The Greatsword is a DPS weapon. It isn’t a matter of whether or not a full DPS mindset is correct. Its purpose, for Guardian, is to deal damage. It offers some mobility and control, some combo fields, and some buffs, but those buffs are all meant to increase or cause damage (might and retaliation.) That is why the focus of discussion as to whether or not the +healing would make it useful is weighed against damage.

I do not believe in “agreeing to disagree” about something that can be tested, nor do I agree about it in matters of providing information. You can “agree to disagree” about a lot of things, like philosophy. You cannot “agree to disagree” on numbers and logic. The two viewpoints don’t have equal footing, and they shouldn’t be considered equal. OP requested advice, I ran the numbers and showed why it is not a viable weapon, and why a +healing greatsword is not considered to be a reasonable alternative. If you can argue against that also using some sort of evidence, then do so. This is the definition of a black and white situation, because we are dealing with definite values.

I welcome anyone to run the numbers themselves and tell me that +healing is a viable alternative or anything other than inferior to a power/crit/damage% spread instead, in any situation (solo, sPVP, WvWvW, dungeons, or any build that uses a Greatsword.) I’d like to see some actual discussion of the numbers if there is a valid counterpoint, or some scenario where the +healing would be advantageous over the +damage.

The only bias I have here is toward the actual mechanics of the game itself. While I can appreciate anyone that wants to explore the boundaries of those mechanics, presenting any opinion without some sort of evidence or even the slightest testing is misleading for new posters and players that are looking for any actual information.

Blinds only have a 10% duration on champions as I recall, and you probably got hit with something that had multiple attacks (hence going through your blocks or aegis). In any event, you can’t facetank Champions solo. You kite them with Scepter.

Champions are not meant to be fought by yourself anyway. They’re tuned for groups.

There’s no “agree to disagree” on this matter. Zealous Blade does not scale with healing. The best outgoing heal is Staff’s, not Greatsword’s. Altruistic Healing adds another 20 or so healing per tick with 1388 healing. It may be the single worst stat for a greatsword user in any regard in a race to the bottom with condition damage (ignoring things like poison duration).

You’re better off investing in toughness or vitality if you want to improve your own survivability, and your outgoing heals aren’t going to save your group more than you actually killing the enemy faster and cutting down the total engagement time accordingly.

(Edit: In response to the question, “Also, why would it be available as a player option if it was all but worthless?,” the answer is that they haven’t figured out a proper scaling formula in relation to every class that uses the stat, in the same way that Guardians don’t benefit from condition damage beyond Burning. There are essentially no builds across all professions which benefit from a +condition damage Greatsword that are effective, as far as I am aware. All of them benefit far more from direct power, crit, and crit damage. In the same vein, a +healing Greatsword has extremely limited applications, none of which are really suitable for Guardian. It is true that you can equip it. It is true that it does slightly boost some healing [the majority of the “full healing gain” skills are either on long cooldowns or not on Greatsword at all.] It is not true that it is a “good stat” objectively speaking.)

Answer for Morbios.1469 : Evades (questionable as to whether or not this is intended), stability, or teleporting. Sometimes also just bugged movement will run through it. Seems like you knew this already though.

Answer for Ark.2013 : Yes and no. As a measurement of flat DPS across strictly weapon skills, it can be close, and in some situations may even favor the Guardian (Whirl of Wrath hits on a 360 spin as opposed to Bladestorm, for example.) For burst, no. Warrior absolutely clobbers us in that. I would guess that the difference would not be as significant as most people would imagine in PVE, but it exists.

Answer for Bloodgruve.6038: Answer 1 – Try Greatsword and Staff for WvW to see if you like it. Altruistic Healing will still give you heals off of Staff’s might buffs. I don’t usually recommend hammer for WvW but some people like it. The rest of the question isn’t really short, but you’ll probably want crit, toughness, and vitality. Spec accordingly.

Answer 2: 30 points in Valor for Monk’s Focus or Altruistic Healing, Valkyrie gear or the new Cavalier gear if you want more toughness. Baseline recommendations are usually 1600-1700 hp, 2500-2700 toughness, 30-40% crit, and as much crit damage as you can get.

(Edit: Why would it filter 16 to 17k hp [with a hyphen instead of the word “to”] to “kitten?”)

We have the worst ranged options in the game of any profession.

I just did a little testing.

Signet heal – 8150
Healing Breeze – 6525 (self) – 1725 (outgoing)
Meditation Heal (Monk’s Focus) – 1960
Staff Heal – 1500
Virtue of Resolve – 1625
Virtue of Resolve Tick – 84
Mace Autoattack Heal – 335
Symbol of Faith Regen Heal (x4) – 130 – 520

With 1088 healing power (No Honor)

Signet Heal – 9510
Healing Breeze – 7615 (self) – 2815 (outgoing)
Meditation Heal – 2096
Staff heal: 2561
Virtue of Resolve – 2053
Virtue of Resolve Tick – 144
Mace Heal – 523
Symbol of Faith Regen Heal (x4) – 266 – 1064

With 1388 healing power (30 honor)

Signet Heal – 9885
Meditation Heal – 2099
Staff Heal – 2888
Virtue of Resolve Heal – 1666
Virtue of Resolve Tick – 167
Mace Heal – 585
Symbol of Faith Regen Heal (x4) – 304 – 1216

So self heals scale 1 to 1 for healing power more or less, as does the staff. Symbol of Faith is roughly .5. Virtue of Resolve is roughly a .7 scaling.

The problem is mostly a lack of outgoing heals. Staff is the only outgoing that scales 1:1. Virtue of Resolve is next. Tome of Courage may also but I didn’t test it. Either way the cooldowns keep it from being all that stunning, as opposed to what you get from Power for example.

And because I left out Altruistic Healing:

0 Healing Power – 64
1088 Healing Power – 80
1388 Healing Power – 83

And since we’re talking about a greatsword in particular:

Zealous Blade

Healing Power 0 – 25
Healing Power 1088 – 25
Healing Power 1388 – 25

So basically, a +healing greatsword is worthless for anything but the skin.

Zealous Blade’s probably one of our worst major traits.

It’s a garbage sword, but because it is, the skin isn’t commonly seen. The same is true of the Runic Scimitar. So I’ve bought one just for the skin.

Denial Of Service.5732:

ive been wondering if someone can take legal actions against Anet

You could not unless they specifically stated the odds and then you proved they were in fact much lower, or if they just flat out said, “Buy keys, get these!”, which, while rhyming, they did not. There wasn’t a legal misrepresentation on their part.

Vkandis.7695:

If you really objected to the way this content was provided why did you opt play? Again I just can’t help but think this would not be an issue for you had you gotten the “value” you felt you deserved.

This is like saying, “I can’t help but to think that maybe you getting mauled by velociraptors has made you ask that Jurassic Park should have better animal security.”

Sure, that’s true. But the second part, about if I had just “got mine,” I wouldn’t be saying anything? Absolutely not. In cases like this, I am a firm believer in advocating a position from which you have nothing to gain, and in this case, I really don’t want anything “of value” right this second. I’m not looking to be pacified. I’m attempting to translate frustrations others have had and offer ideas on how to avoid situations like these in the future, while maintaining some form of profitability. I say as much in my posts.

“What we need to understand as a gaming community is that those who have complaint are not always entitled, spoiled, or otherwise greedy themselves, either. These are people who made an assumption, and who were clearly wrong about that assumption. Many of them, like myself, have said that there is a problem with the way that the entire BLC matter was structured, but that we believe the correct action to take is to ask that ArenaNet take a closer look at the strategy that they have employed. "

“To say that I am disappointed would be to put it mildly, both in myself for blindly leaping from the diving board, and in ArenaNet for filling the pool with a foot of water and ten feet of clear glass shards.”

" This is an assumption on my part, but it is based off of the fact that they do have employees that analyze this information, and which will be reviewing it long after this holiday event has ended. This is the sort of feedback that will go into future planning, possibly for years to come."

This is a discussion of players closing their ears and opening their mouths, and why that isn’t productive. When you say, “I can’t help but to think—” and then proceed to dismiss the entirety of the argument based on your imagined scenario, you’ve effectively done exactly that. I think you should take a closer look at what I’ve posted, and then a closer look at your own response. Do not be mistaken, either; I’m not looking for sympathy from you, or anyone else. I’m looking for a more reasonable way to discuss these matters in the future, and better behavior from ArenaNet.

The problem is probably one of semantics. In this instance, he may have meant that they are technically feeling entitled, as opposed to the insulting manner in which the term is most often used in the gaming community currently. The most common application of the word online in reference to the dissatisfied gaming community is more like “greedy,” “childish,” “spoiled,” etc, whereas the actual definition of the term entitled is that you have a claim to a good, service, position, or outcome. I would say it is not unreasonable to think that people who spent money felt they were entitled to something of value to them, but that is where the argument over who should feel value for what comes into play, which really has no resolution itself.

Pedroso.4603:

I just had to say: Congratulations, senoph!

Thank you, Pedroso! I wasn’t sure what else to say in response to that post, but really, thanks.

szthesquid.9576:

I’d much rather open chests in GW2 or crates in TF2 than go to a casino. The odds may not be accurately labelled, but I’m guaranteed to get something for my money in these games. At a casino I could blow $10,000 and get absolutely nothing in return. In GW2 if I blow $10,000 on keys I’ll be set for life on boosters and tonics even if I don’t get a Halloween weapon skin.

Well, to make it a more accurate comparison, you can spend $100 at a Casino and get absolutely nothing, but you knew that was a possible outcome. In fact, the casual gambler enters with $100 considered as a loss before they even play the game if that’s their budget for the night. I personally didn’t expect to spend what I spent, and then just say “Well, it was a good run, but I knew that would probably happen.” I honestly thought that I had a freakish streak of bad luck. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I wasn’t the only one, and that there were people who lost out far, far worse than I did. I don’t think many people expected to just lose this respective gamble as much as they did.

As has been mentioned, there are people who see a majority of those boosters as useless. They see these as a loss, either way.

Narkosys.5173:

I take issue with your assumption. Anet knew exactly what they were doing and had specific ideas/plans. When your income is based on what is sold online you have a kitten good idea of what will generate what. They planned to milk this plain and simple.
I only fault Anet for not stating it was in fact a rare item but instead they used chance.
for that they are in the wrong and people got a 2nd chance. You spent money you expected something – anything -that is not entitlement.

I don’t actually think that they could have anticipated people would buy the chests in numbers as large as this, although they may have gotten a glimpse of that after they released the Mystic Conduit/Node pieces. I certainly would not have foreseen so many people with stories of spending as much money as they have. I thought I actually would have been on the much higher end of these “I opened x chests and got zilch” tales, but I’m actually on the lower/middle.

I think the fact that so many people felt that they got nothing for their skinless chests is an issue, but it is also a rather large condemnation of the vanilla Black Lion Chests. As another person in this thread mentioned, feedback had been given far before this event. Maybe what’s happened here will lead to changes we can appreciate throughout the year, instead of just on holidays.

Modus Pwnens.1932:

So yes, I think the term “entitlement” is entirely fair to use here, even if it does sound “mean”.

The term itself has become memetic, and is now used as a blanket statement to convey disapproval of disapproval. That is a very problematic stance to take for progress as a whole. I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt since you mentioned you did not read everything posted, but my point was mainly that there are people who act like the entitled, spoiled children that the term has now come to denote, and then there are those who are just giving their honest feedback on the matter.

If someone says, “I opened 200 chests, I didn’t get anything. I feel sad about this and I won’t be buying keys for future events,” and then the response is, “Well you’re entitled!”, then that is the absolute incorrect response to make on every level. That person actually did put in money, they are not expecting something for free. In fact, in their situation, they feel that they have put in a lot of money, have not gotten the value of that money somehow, and will not be doing so in the future. You’re attempting to resolve a mentally conflicting sentiment by bringing it to its opposing pole. To say that they are “just entitled,” or even “entitled” at all is to completely disregard the angle that matters, which is that of how a business and a customer will interact and what that means for the future.

Many people have compared this entire situation to a casino. I would have much rather gone to one, personally, because they are clearly labeled. I didn’t buy Casino Wars 2.

Blueroseknight.7954:

I respect your arguments but disagree that the BLCs were handled poorly. I think that ANet took advantage of a basic psychological principle and used it to make money. I play alot of CCGs and have opened many packs of cards for many different games. You don’t always pull the rare cards that you are looking for.

This is true, but like TF2, there is also nothing keeping you from trading what you did get for things that you may want. This would be a good comparison if you could trade boosters, tonics, Black Lion tools, etc. As it is, you cannot. That is why I mentioned them being a dead end, and why so many people that are vocal on this forum are of the mindset of never engaging in this sort of buying behavior in the future.

Blueroseknight.7954:

I have enjoyed using basically everything I have gotten from the BLCs, even the killstreak XP booster. Each item has improved my gameplay experience in some way.

And here we have something of interest. You, and another poster, have said you enjoy the boosters. My wife plays as well, and she really wants Transmutation stones. Would it be unreasonable for these things to be traded to people who actually do want them and could use them? I know this is not in direct relation to the Halloween event exlcusively, but it does relate to how Black Lion Chests are handled in general. If I could, I would send you, or anyone who wants them, Killstreak XP boosters. I’d trade them for money as well. Wouldn’t that be a mutually beneficial arrangement?

Blueroseknight.7954:

ANet has thus far been kind enough to add a second chance at their Halloween gambling event for no charge. That obviously did not work; their efforts were basically wasted. It is sad that people accuse them of so many hateful things when they are making so many wonderful things.

Well, here is an area where you and I are going to be in disagreement. You say that ArenaNet has been “kind” enough to do something, and yet initially you say that they are a business and that they are tapping into our psychological workings to be profitable. Wouldn’t it be more likely that their “kindness” in this instance was an investment toward garnering good will, and thus more sales? I am not saying that the company itself is disingenuous toward the fans, but they are, in fact, a business. They added the Mad King Chests because the feedback was telling them that they made a mistake. Kindness takes a backseat toward getting back your big money buyers.

Blueroseknight.7954:

This whole thing kind of reminds me of the Mass Effect players demanding a different ending to the game. Fans demanding changes in the way products are presented is a bizarre concept. If you don’t like the product then don’t engage the product.

I think what was far more bizarre was that Bioware delivered such a slapdash product and ending on a game that players had been anticipating for years of their lives. I don’t even think that the players in that instance were demanding a different ending, so much as an ending that was actually more what they said it would be. We’re living in a time when your displeasure with a product or company can hit a thousand eyes in one post, regardless of who you are. Companies can’t afford to keep pushing out bad products and ideas anymore, at least not in this industry.

szthesquid.9576:

DreamThief.9812:

I would also like to note that while some players may find the boosters useful, I have never much considered +strength, +rejuv, or +exp to be of much use in my play style.

This is a bit of a tangent from the thread topic, but the usefulness of these boosters have nothing to do with your play style.
There is no play style that doesn’t deal damage, therefore +strength is always useful.
There is no play style that doesn’t benefit from staying alive longer, therefore +rejuvenation is always useful.
If you’re not at 80, +exp is always useful. If you are, it’s useless if you don’t need any more skill points for crafting.

I think you are missing the point, which is that there are people who do not feel the contents of the chest are worth the $1.25 they would normally pay to get them from a chest (note, that’s just through buying the gems with cash. The prices fluctuate with silver/gold.) I have never found any of the boosters to be worth the money, personally, but I treated them as a consolation prize for not getting the skins. I was determined to use them all, somehow. I just didn’t feel they were great in any way.

I can only guess on this point in particular, but I would imagine that if you looked at the amount of gems spent prior to this event on stat boosters and keys versus other, more expensive, one time purchases such as character slots, bank slots, bag slots, etc, you would most likely see that the stat boosters and keys would be fairly far behind.

To be honest, I also just don’t like using strength/defense/regeneration boosters. I prefer to do things with my own stats, traits, and boons that I’ve been building up and playing with. Consumables like food and maintenance oil/sharpening stones are more than good enough for me.

Do not drive players away. I feel that it is somewhat sad that I should even have to say this, but having a highly negative, combative, or condescending attitude toward your fellow players in the community. In this matter, there has been a sharp wedge driven between those who do not like what was done with the BLC, and those who simply wish to chide others for what they see as a failure of character. In truth, perhaps both are right, but we should expect, and demand, a higher standard than what we have seen in the “low rent” MMORPGs with strategies comparable to this. Even if you feel that these BLC were the right call, a majority those who bought them en masse will not be doing so again. That should be a clear indicator that the strategy was not successful.

Tell ArenaNet what you want to spend your money on. This one is very important. If you, like me, were not happy with the BLC, then please tell them what you do want to see. Tell them what will get you back as a big spender. Do not just complain about the BLC and leave it at that. We have already heard thoughts on seasonal armor and weapon skins in the cash shop, and I think that is a step in the right direction. Let them know what else you might like to see. Even if you cannot articulate it beyond “something nice and shiny,” that still means something to a person in marketing. It is more than just “I did not like this.” Give critical, constructive feedback. Do not give in to mindless negativity.

On a personal note, I do believe that my experience with the BLC has softened my enthusiasm for the game somewhat. If I were to feel entitled to anything for the money and gold (which translates into farming time) spent, it would have simply been “fun.” My idea of fun would have been something beyond such low odds. In fact, RNG is not usually something I have a lot of luck with. It was my fault for thinking that the chests would be any different, in that they would be a bit of RNG and a bit of fun as well.

The most common comparison is to TF2 chests, but even those give weapons, hats (which we can think of as skins), and a rarer tier of item that can only be found in crates (Stranges, which have a kill counter on them.) I’ve opened my fair share of those, and only gotten one Unusual item. Did I feel angry about this? Not really, no. I at least had some use for the items I uncrated, if even to sell or trade to other players. The game played on. With the results of opening several BLC, I feel that if you do not get something you were hoping for, then you hit a dead end. In TF2, you trade metal for keys, keys for items you want, or items for keys, then you use the keys on crates, which you get items from that you can trade for keys or metal. Seems simple enough, I think. Regardless of the result, you get something you can use to get something you want. I think the Mad King Chests were a step into that direction, but the pot simply isn’t big enough for the losers.

To make the contents truly worth my while, I’d probably have to bank them for a few months and wait for the price on these crafting goods to go much higher before I feel that I have anything to work with. As it is, the materials I got are worth around 1-2g in total. In TF2, this would be the equivilant of every crate not having an Unusual or a Hat only giving you regular weapon, not even a scrap of metal or a strange. In both game, that’s roughly two hours of gameplay, or less if you are lucky. Thus, I really have nothing to show for the money I put into gems, not even fond memories of being a “high roller.” There are no other players at the table, there is no frantic energy. It’s just me slapping keys into a pile of boxes in a corner of Lion’s Arch.

Do I feel ArenaNet owes me anything personally? Not as far as rewards or compensation, no. They did not set out to do me harm. Do I feel less enthusiastic about the game right now? Unquestionably. Am I going to stomp my feet about this? Of course not, but this is a game I have been excited over for at least the past year. To see events like this, and the way that they are handled, is less than what I had hoped for. To say that I am disappointed would be to put it mildly, both in myself for blindly leaping from the diving board, and in ArenaNet for filling the pool with a foot of water and ten feet of clear glass shards.

As a final note, if you do not think that this has broader implications, I took the time to listen to a GW2 stream/podcast show. One of the hosts mentioned that she opened 100 chests and got nothing. She does not make a big deal of it, she does not say ArenaNet owes her. She simply sounds defeated. How is that for publicity?

Within the past few years, a word has crept into the collective consciousness of the gaming community. The word, “entitlement,” has come to be used in defense of companies who do not give a certain group of players what they want. The common usage is that those who are complaining feel that they are entitled to something more. The imagery evoked is that of a spoiled child, who is not happy with what they get, and who is now throwing a temper tantrum due to that.

In all honesty, there are those that will never be satisfied with what they get. This much is certain, and if you have ever worked in a job where you had to deal with the general public, such as retail, customer service, tech support, and roles of that nature, then you are well aware that there are people out there who want the world on a platter. Many of us have dealt with them. Whether we realize it or not, some of us have been that person. In cases such as those, what you will see is that a person feels that they are “entitled” to treat you like a lesser, to demand that you give them all that they ask for, and that you be happy to do so. In those scenarios, we see clearly entitled behavior.

However, I must strongly object to the use of the word “entitlement” in reference to those who are not happy with the Black Lion Chests. There are some amongst us who say things such as, “ArenaNet got greedy,” or “ArenaNet is screwing over the customer on purpose.” I do not think that this is the case. It is my honest belief that ArenaNet did not set out to alienate anyone, and that if they would have foreseen the reaction as it has occurred, they would have definitely altered their gameplan on how to handle the Black Lion Chests and rare weapon skins. This is an assumption on my part, but it is based off of the fact that they do have employees that analyze this information, and which will be reviewing it long after this holiday event has ended. This is the sort of feedback that will go into future planning, possibly for years to come.

What we need to understand as a gaming community is that those who have complaint are not always entitled, spoiled, or otherwise greedy themselves, either. These are people who made an assumption, and who were clearly wrong about that assumption. Many of them, like myself, have said that there is a problem with the way that the entire BLC matter was structured, but that we believe the correct action to take is to ask that ArenaNet take a closer look at the strategy that they have employed. The response from the team thus far has been to add in the Mad King Chests, which was a gesture in the right direction, although not precisely what I believe people were looking for.

More than anything, a poster in another thread got it right: A permanent souvenir from the chests would have been a nice touch, or at the very least parts of one that you could turn into the Mystic Forge ala the Mystic Conduits. In fact, a higher drop rate of tradeable components (with rarer pieces, but not incredibly rare) may have been a better alternative to the “skin or no skin” system. It would still encourage many people to buy chests, but it would also give you results that you could use toward getting the pieces that you would want without having to add in a supplemental recipe that gives roughly the same or worse chances of you achieving your objective, whichever skin that may be.

As we proceed with the next phases of the Halloween event, please keep a few things in mind:

Many of us play the game not for the RNG, but for the gameplay itself. Please do not confuse the two, as some might. If you want to make your displeasure about the chests known, please do so in a respectful and mature manner. When and if someone refers to you as entitled for voicing your complaint, it is very likely that they have little to say beyond the same rhetoric. Do not be surprised if they also mention a casino, whining, 4 year olds, etc. These are not responses. They are automation. I do not recommend humoring them.

Do not support this in the future. Although you may be told that your opinion does not matter, or that you are somehow wrong for feeling as though you have wasted your money, the most important thing that you can personally do is not give the same amount of money to the company. If you are someone who has spent quite a significant amount, please sit back and do not pay any more. You have most likely already covered your “$15 a month” amount that many believe is a fair amount to buy in gems per month to support the game. Once you feel that you have paid in for the amount of content that you have received, feel free to resume buying gems in whatever volume you prefer, but not a second before, and most certainly not for more of these seasonal chests.

(cont.)

30 mad king chests, nothing special from them. I’m glad they made the effort to smooth over some of the sour feelings over this BLC business, but I’m done with it personally. At least some people are getting skins.

Honestly, I think the worst part of what’s transpired so far is the misanthropy from our fellow gamers and consumers. I’m reminded of the defense of other game companies that have made mistakes and garnered customer complaints. Now, some of those companies made far bigger errors (Bioware’s handling of ME3’s DLC/ending come to mind), but in that case, I think any reasonable person would say that there is literally nothing to gain by simply dismissing what a sizable portion of your consumer base is telling you. As long as our thoughts and feedback are constructive, I do not see any good reason to be derisive or immature in response.

If you do not agree with what has been said by those who have complaints, then by all means, state it as such. To insult those people directly, or to try and stereotype them as being an easily dismissed demographic may be how it works with some changes, but not when these are people who are putting money directly into the game. As a comparison, back when they changed aspects of the Guardian’s greatsword skills, there were some people who went to such great lengths to say that they would not play anymore, or that this killed their game experience. In that instance, I feel those complaints may have been warranted, but the length at which they were taken was a bit absurd.

In this instance, however, we are talking about people who are directly paying into a matter of the game that they will not pay into again. To say that those people are idiots is not productive in any way, nor is it going to help anyone. As I’ve stated several times in this and other threads, we all want ArenaNet to be profitable and successful. Part of that process is understanding when a function that is directly related to income and profit is seen by those who have participated as something that needs to change. This is not a matter of asking for free items, or gambling, or anything of that nature. This is a matter of several customers feeling unsatisfied, and that is something that other customers have no real say in. You cannot dismiss that, regardless of how snide your remarks are, and you cannot say that it does not matter, because these are people who are, again, putting money into ArenaNet’s pockets. ArenaNet is the one who decides how to proceed, and they will hopefully proceed in a direction that will generate more income for them, instead of one that will satisfy the misanthropic few who continue to attempt to derail this thread with personal attacks and broad generalizations.

Yes, that is what people are saying. “I will not be doing this again because it was a waste, and here is why.” I don’t think anyone has said “I deserve this,” or “I deserve that.” They’re saying they’re unhappy with the way the chests were handled, and that means they won’t be spending money on events like this in the future. It has nothing to do with being entitled, unless you’re proposing that we should just keep giving out our money regardless of whether we feel it is worth it. The comparisons to a casino are shaky at best, as well, as are the arguments that nobody forced you to do a thing. That doesn’t absolve ArenaNet of its mistakes, just as it wouldn’t give any of us that feel we wasted a money a free pass to say that they fooled or deceived us. I think a lot of people in this thread that are complaining want to give ArenaNet more money. We just want to get something for it, if the impetus is, “items for a limited time.”

What is truly childish is to say, “Shut up! Stop complaining!” to adults who have jobs, and who are voicing their displeasure. We aren’t organizing a boycott or threatening any legal action (well, most of us aren’t.) We’re explaining why we won’t be buying gems and keys like this in the future. A real child would plug their ears and simply repeat the same sound over and over in opposition to that. Adults deal with the reality of the situation, which is fewer repeat customers make a big difference in this business model.

Khisanth.2948:

I think you are very much mistaken about who is the “most valuable customer”. The most valuable customers are the ones who will buy all the stuff rather than the ones whining 90% of the time.

Actually, the most valuable customers are those like myself. Adult, disposable income, no children. I’ve spent money in the cash shop before. I spend at least $15 a month, in fact. This month, I spent $55. I might have done the same during Christmas as well, if the drop rates in the chests were worth it. Now, I’m definitely not going to be doing that. The most valuable customers are those that will come back to the trough.

I’ve never “whined” about the cash shop before. In fact, I really like the idea, and I think it needs to have more worth buying. My hope was that the BLCs would be that thing during the holiday, but the drop rate was horrible. Yes, gambling, etc, “You lost your money, get over it.” Well, I will. I just won’t spend as much in the future. That could mean I spend $100 less throughout the year on the product. If I and a fraction of the playerbase (let’s say 10,000) follow that trend, that means ArenaNet loses $1,000,000 in potential sales that they are not going to necessarily recoup otherwise.

On the plus side, the price of gems went up, which means more people will buy them to convert into gold possibly. Is it enough to generate that missing million, though, and a better question would be, wouldn’t the smart solution be to lure back the “million dollar” players while keeping everyone happy enough to continue to increase their gem buying?

This business with the chests is not a winning proposition for anyone involved. It’s not good for the players like myself that are willing to drop that much. It’s not good for the company, because people like me do generate profitability for a business, whether some of you would want to acknowledge that or not, and it does not benefit the people who spend little either, because that extra money will translate into more content for free and higher production values because they can afford them while maintaining profits.

Funny enough, even McDonald’s had to acknowledge their Monopoly game pieces didn’t have good enough odds at one point. We’re talking about a much bigger company, and most likely a much smaller profit loss from dissatisfied customers, but even they took the effort to say, “Lost sales are just lost sales, we could gain them back and get more,” which they did. Now those stupid pieces are a 1 in 4 chance of you getting something, along with the food you bought. That was a smarter path to take than to just say “Sorry, you gambled and you lost.”

Hell, even casinos (the oft-cited parallel to this situation) will have something to keep you gambling and coming back. The atmosphere, the free drinks, the shows, the buffets, etc. There is nothing here that will make a gambler want to return. That should tell you something about how empty that comparison is, and why it is just not a smart business move.

They’re already in the process of figuring out a way to make amends on the chest thing as it is, so arguing against those who are disenfranchised is an empty gesture. ArenaNet’s already acknowledged that they feel the complaints and feedback has been valid.

ReginaBuenaobra.6953:

We’d recommend not throwing away or selling the items you’ve been receiving in the Black Lion Chests, as we’ll be providing ways in which those items can be used to obtain Halloween-related items…

We’ll have further updates when they become available.

Thank you again for all your feedback.

This is an interesting solution. I’ve already seen posts about using crude salvage kits + Halloween items to make other Halloween items in the Mystic Forge. Obviously that’s a lower tier, but if you made temporary recipes for mystery tonics, Black Lion gathering tools, boosters, etc, that would probably make sense. I really doubt these temporary recipes would be used for the weapon skins, but even if it were something actually worth the forge or at least as valuable as the gem investment (worth the key amount for the forged item), that could be fine. I just want something I will actually use/enjoy out of it, and what I really wanted was something Halloween-themed.

As someone who’s spent a great deal of money and fortunately hasn’t thrown anything out (I had to clear an entire bank tab just for all the junk I got) this is fortunately timed news.

keever.3124:

awk stop complaning like a bunch of spoiled brats you get chests and keys through the game no one made you or forced you to spend money you did this of you’re own choice get a grip

Again, these purchases are what will help to fund future content. Maybe you and others don’t appreciate that, but this isn’t a matter of “I did a thing for free in the game and got no drops.” This is actual, real world money that a lot of people have earned from their jobs. ArenaNet specifically posted about and trumpeted these skins and the Black Lion Chests as a great thing to get into for the event. The people in this thread, like myself, probably would not be complaining if the drop rate were simply higher. As it is, they seem to be at 2% or so.

If you open 50 chests, you should get at least 1 per 10. As another poster stated, that’s $10 per skin, and extremely reasonable. If it were that rate, I think more people would actually buy more keys, which helps ArenaNet to produce more content because they have more funds, and may get more in the future with future “special seasonal chests.” This is not a matter of anyone being spoiled or entitled. If your customers do not feel they got something that was worth their money, they will not buy more in the future. For most businesses, repeat customers make anywhere from 70-80% of your profitability. So to call the people who are complaining spoiled is to say, “Well I didn’t want you to support the game that I liked anyway.” It’s a foolish stance to take.

To all the people who are saying, “You wasted your money, get over it!” You have to understand this sets a bad precedent for future gem sales as a whole. The people who are most likely to pour money into the economy in these amounts are not likely to return and spend more if they feel they got burned (as I think a lot of people are on these keys.) This isn’t a matter of entitlement or the regret of a gambler, it’s a simple business matter. After making much to do about these seasonal Halloween skins, I did not expect that the drop rate would be so low. I will not be putting more money into this game in the near future, which is the exact opposite of what they should be looking to do with their game. I want to spend money on this game and support ArenaNet, but I want something to show for it in the game other than some very, very useless booster items. This is true of the BLCs outside of the holidays as well; only bought keys once before this, and I decided never to do so again due to how useless their contents were. This is further evidence that buying keys is just a bad idea.

I opened about 50 chests and got 1 skin. If I was smart, I would have read threads like this first to see what my chances would be of getting a skin. Now I feel like I’ve wasted quite a bit of money on these chests, almost as much as I paid for the game itself. The boosters aren’t really great, the Black Lion gathering tools don’t stack and only come in 10s, so I have them cramming up my inventory space, and the tonics aren’t welcome. At least they consolidated them into “mystery tonics.”

If anyone involved in the decision making process is reading this, please do not do this again. I’m not going to buy any more gems for quite some time after this event, not because I am so disheartened, but because I simply cannot afford to gamble like this.