Guild Wars 2

OK, a jokes a joke, but I’ve had enough … can we turn it off now?

sigh!

The people who find everything released by arena net beyond great are even more obnoxious than those who complain./

The effect is causing vertigo and headache for me how can I turn it off.

Game is almost unplayable.

Sera.6539:

phys.7689:

Sera.6539:

It’s always nice to take everything with healthy suspicion and expectations.

I’m glad we’re getting a wardrobe, because it means I can free up space from my bank (transmutation stones, and excess skins). It lets me play collector (get every skin!). It means that I don’t have to do Arah again for my second Elementalist’s look. I can pull it from my current Necromancer, as she has the parts I want already. It means I can have my current three legendary skins on my other characters.

I probably won’t be using it to constantly change looks, as when I created a character and finalized their gear, I had a set look in mind for them. To me, this wardrobe is convenience. The option is there if I want it. The charge pricing hasn’t been released yet, but it’s like a repository for all the skins, and if I want to use it, I can just go to that repository to bring it back up.

However, I’m concerned about the fact you won’t be able to mix and match town clothes (from what I’ve read). That’s where town clothes excelled, and there were a lot of unique combinations from that, just like armor.

now what if there becomes some new gear, that fits your charachters style, but only some of the time, lets say its something he/she would only wear in special occaisons, under the current system, and the new one you probably wouldnt bother, because you ll have to pay 12 gold to switch, and 12 gold when you switch back. But under an unlock system you would pay the 12 gold once, and anytime it felt approriate to wear that armor you would switch to it.

congratualtions anet, you just made 12 more gold which translates into 1.75 roughly than they would make otherwise.

Not everyone has the same reasoning and behavior. I’m sure ANet has considered both, and went with the more profitable option (which I don’t blame them for).

I highly doubt its the more profitable system, or else more clothes or fashion items would have a similar model irl. Even comparing it to rentals, rentals charge you per day, not when you change gears. I forsee a quick spike of transmutation sales, maybe a modest increase. But overall once people see the system, they will stay in one gear forever just like they do now, and the far majority will sit on transmutation stones, and rarely change the decided looks of a charachter.

But eh well no one believes me, anet put all that development time, and unlocks would have made them so much more money.

Moshari.8570:

Except as you said, there are 2000 looks in the game….once you “unlocked” all of those, you would be done, you would never unlock another. So in the short term…you are correct, they would probably see more transmutation shards used in an “unlock” scenerio since everyone would rush to unlock as many skins as they could….but they are not thinking short term….they are thinking long term….somewhere, someone did an analysis and it probably looked something like this:

A: If we make them “unlocks” then there will be an initial rush of people gathering and unlocking tons of skins….not everyone….but some people. The rest already have a look they are interested in and as such are not going to change it or rish out to unlock tons more…in the long term the “rush” people will unlock every skin and the only way to make further money off of them is by making more “gem store” skins for them…which they will only use a single shard to unlock and then be done with until the next one comes….all their characters, for ever will have every skin.

B: Meanwhile: if we make it a “per use” shard item…then yes, there will be no initial rush of every running out to unlock their items…but if we make a really cool gemstore item, we will get everyone to use shards to transmute to it, across multiple characters. Also, when people create new characters, they will have to use shards again on those…and particularly if we make some new armors that look really good with parts of the older armors…we can entice people to buy new armor, as well as use shards to transmute old armor…across multiple characters again.

The calculation came out: B is greater cash flow for the company than A….so they went B.

I guarantee they thought this through…they have accountants on staff who’s whole job is to monetize anything they introduce into the game (development time must = more cash or it won’t be done).

i have played the game for 1.5 years, i havent changed my armor looks via transmutation on average maybe once per charachter. it will be a long, long time probably never before they get 2000 gems off me. they probably have only gotten like 25 off me in a year.
if it was unlocks i would have probably used every stone i have, and would probably be either buying, or trading gold for some others. I would also be more into hunting new looks, and probably trying to get mystic forge recipe gears, that i currently have no reason to get, because i already have a look thats good enough for most things.

the system is not as profitable, and its not as useful for promoting obtaining new looks in game. Its just not a good way to sell clothes if you are the clothes creator.

the main difference with rental, is that you pay every day, rental where they only pay when they change looks cannot compare in profit or user desire to obtain new looks, with paying everytime you change looks.

the current and new systems discourage getting multiple looks, when anet is in the business of selling multiple looks. Its a bad business model.

as for the accountants, just because you have people doesnt mean they have the best solutions, they are taking the safe way. They know the numbers on how many people transmute, under current system, but they arent sure how many would transmute under unlock system. They are going with what they know, instead of what is most profitable. There are a few people who transmute often, and they will lose some of their money, but from what almost everyone here is saying they are the vast minority, most people choose one look and stick to it. I believe a big part of that is because everytime you switch looks, the game takes money from you. The most effecient way is to play is not to change looks. With unlocks, there becomes a new effecient way to have multiple looks, which equals more sales for anet, and more an increase in interest for obtaining cosmetics in game, which increases game life, and keeps players engaged.

Sorin.4310:

JustTrogdor.7892:

phys.7689:

Many people arent satisfied with this deal when they actually look closely at it.

Yes because many of those people are of the, “Make everything ever free for me forever or Anet is greedy,” mindset.

I think a lot (not saying majority, just a lot) of people would just prefer an unlocking system to a rental system. I’d rather pay more crystals 1 time to get the functionality to be like the achievement panel. I’d be willing to actually buy gems to get crystals for this type of feature also. But I’m not interested in a system where every time the same skin is used from the wardrobe to replace a different one, it costs.

That is just it! I will gladly pay even 5 charges per item unlimited unlock. The current system basically discourages me from spending money on gems to buy the charges because it is temporary.

They should really do the best of both worlds. Spend 1 charge for temp (current wardrobe) or spend X charges for unlimited. Anet gets our money both ways. Everyone wins.

JustTrogdor.7892:

phys.7689:

Many people arent satisfied with this deal when they actually look closely at it.

Yes because many of those people are of the, “Make everything ever free for me forever or Anet is greedy,” mindset.

my opinion on anet and greed, is more that anet is not maximizing user satisfaction and profit. I think they would have greater user satisfaction AND greater profit with an unlock system. This type of system only pays well if people are constantly changing their looks, but it still doesnt really encourage them to do so. If you are selling 2000 different pieces of clothes, you should be selling the clothes, not forcing people to wear one piece at a time. Everybody is just going to be sitting in the most desired clothes, and pay one time.

its not a good monetary system for clothes.

JustTrogdor.7892:

phys.7689:

Many people arent satisfied with this deal when they actually look closely at it.

Yes because many of those people are of the, “Make everything ever free for me forever or Anet is greedy,” mindset.

I think a lot (not saying majority, just a lot) of people would just prefer an unlocking system to a rental system. I’d rather pay more crystals 1 time to get the functionality to be like the achievement panel. I’d be willing to actually buy gems to get crystals for this type of feature also. But I’m not interested in a system where every time the same skin is used from the wardrobe to replace a different one, it costs.

Azreell.1568:

phys.7689:

Azreell.1568:

Zypher.7609:

I really can’t believe all the people that want the wardrobe to be free. Really so you get the skin once and can use it when ever you want free of charge? How do you think this game is paid for? You do not pay monthly, you do not have to pay for the April 15th patch. Really I think you just want a game you log into, gets updated when ever you want but then you also get every single thing in the game. Just for the heads up the people that do the updating would like to get paid for the work they do.

Just do some thinking before screaming greedy company.

The evolution of NA society.

Where profit for a company becomes a bad thing.

Sighs…..

Capitalist system says profit for a company should be obtained by offering you the best services at the cheapest prices. No consumer is supposed to celebrate the profit of a company unless they feel the company is offering them a satisfying deal. Many people arent satisfied with this deal when they actually look closely at it.

Then free market kicks in and you have other options for value aka play another title.

The opinion is people want this for free – which is unrealistic but something that is continually hammered into people with all this liberal media.

Nothing is free.

GW2 requires a profit to stay running.

unlock per transmutation stone isnt free. It actually probably would lead to an increase in transmutation stones spent, because like they said, 2000 armor pieces or something. When this change hits, im still going to be hoarding my transmutation stones, i will use some on transmuting legendary looks. If it was unlocks i would spend a lot or all of them and want more, i would also start hunting gears i may only use sometimes.

Unlock is a better system for a fashion system. It gives people reasons to buy lots and lots of clothes, instead of just one.

Its not about free, its about having a more logical and appealing system that reinforces in game goals, and playing the game more.

i believe they will make more money of an unlock system than a rental system, because i believe a rental system is not the way people prefer to deal with fashion.

Azreell.1568:

Zypher.7609:

I really can’t believe all the people that want the wardrobe to be free. Really so you get the skin once and can use it when ever you want free of charge? How do you think this game is paid for? You do not pay monthly, you do not have to pay for the April 15th patch. Really I think you just want a game you log into, gets updated when ever you want but then you also get every single thing in the game. Just for the heads up the people that do the updating would like to get paid for the work they do.

Just do some thinking before screaming greedy company.

The evolution of NA society.

Where profit for a company becomes a bad thing.

Sighs…..

Capitalist system says profit for a company should be obtained by offering you the best services at the cheapest prices. No consumer is supposed to celebrate the profit of a company unless they feel the company is offering them a satisfying deal. Many people arent satisfied with this deal when they actually look closely at it.

I was personally hoping for some kind of “unlock, then use freely” system. The cost of the permanent unlock could even be many times the individual usage cost (10x? 20x?) and I would still be happy with it. Without that option, even at a very high price point, the “play around with different looks” fun that the wardrobe could have brought is largely lost for me.

Nage.1520:

Arisal.9740:

I just want to know one thing. Will a transmutation charge “unlock” the skin already in our locker for unlimited use.

That changes everything. If it does work that way OMG amazing. If not I see this as an unnecessary barrier for skins that should have UNLIMITED use. After all we payed the charge. Why make us pay again.

It doesn’t work that way now, why would it work that way again?

Let’s say right now I want to make a dagger look like another dagger. I have to buy two daggers and use a transmutation crystal (at level 80). If I then want to make a second dagger, I need two MORE daggers.

With the new system, I don’t need to get the dagger skin again, so I’m still better off than I was before the patch. I’m only paying to put it on a completely different weapon.

So the system is better than the one we have now.

Achievement skins do that! Why cant it be like that but the barrier of entry is a transmutation stone. Pay the charge get it forever! There are over 2000+ skins in the game is that not reasonable!?

I was pretty excited at first.

Then I re-read the blog post.
Then I read it a third time for clarification.

Then I read some posts that pointed out things I didn’t initially think of.

Then I spent some time thinking about how this change affects me and the people I play with.

I realized it changes nothing. The cost is still per use. Nothing changed except the user interface and some phrasing. People are going to use the same amount of ‘pay to make a change’ transmutation charges that they did for ‘pay to make a change’ transmutation crystals.

Pay per use is pay per use no matter the UI. This only really helps some people free up some bank space.

I believe I would feel differently if it were a pay to unlock and usage was free system.

Basically, Anet has put the consumer aka the player base in a very un comfortable position with this title.

A lot of things were promised and many of such promises never came to fruition.

Also, Many players are frustrated with the direction of this game for the past year.

Anet has basically made the player base paranoid and very reluctant to trust anything they do

In fairness I think they are finally starting to realize that changes are needed and required to keep this game a float. So we will see how this all pans out come the feature patch.

I am hopeful – but very skeptical.

Great, they’ve finally implemented what a lot of people have been pining after for ages, yet they’ve also cynically monetised it.
This system and its equivalents are COMPLETELY FREE in other MMOs such as DCUO.
They almost had me back and playing again with this, but they had to go and screw it up with greed.

Well, this is certainly nice. I’ve been wanting a better costume/appearance system since before launch, nice that they finally were able to roll this out. This is a huge upgrade over what we had before.

That being said, while I was really giddy over it initially, I’m starting to realize the limitations. The thing this does not do is address the problem of gear churn for leveling characters. By putting the cost on the back end, when you transmute, rather than when you unlock, there is still a disincentive to maintain you look when your level 47 Guardian (or whatever) gets a new drop—because they may get a better drop in 15 minutes, and do you want to pay another transmute charge then too? My guard has been hauling around a set she picked up with karma for 20 levels now, because my gear set is never stable enough to justify using t-stones when I know she’ll be getting a new something any time now. It would be nice if there was a price break of some kind for lowbie characters, to get them into using the system early on. This is the situation where the traditional appearance slot system is still superior. But I understand they probably did this to keep from totally cannibalizing the income stream from t-stones, which I’m guessing is probably a decent chunk of Gem Store money.

For 80’s, on the other hand, it’s pretty sweet. I’m really looking forward to being able to surf through the wardrobe trying different combinations. I wonder if we’ll be able to preview dyes as well before committing to a transmutation? That would make it better than using the PvP locker now.

And I can finally start using all those LS skins and items, as well as the random bits of armor from the personal story that don’t show up anywhere else. This is really going to help my bank space.

And the town clothes change is pretty cool too. I never had any use for town clothes that couldn’t be worn in combat, so hopefully this will open the door for cool new outfits. Gem store armors and town clothes are WAY more appealing now—I will finally be shelling out some money when Halloween and Wintersday roll around this year!

It’s funny, I was playing the Wildstar beta this past weekend and thinking how much I wanted to steal their appearance system for GW2, and then this comes out. What are they going to introduce next, player housing?

Traced.3495:

The wardrobe really is whatever to me, it’s not something I’d use.

Town clothes… the pieces I got: riding clothes, khaki shorts, shirts, a vest. Loved them. And the mix and match aspect with the festival costumes.
Gone. Not “whatever,” not “fine.”

In general, what of toys/costume brawl system?

I’d just like them to explain ‘why’ this is being done this way. I have a set I like to use for town clothes that consists of a vest, khaki shorts and the witches boots from the original Halloween costume.

Why am I not allowed to wear that any more? Jesus? America? To help ward off Neil Degrasse Tyson from poisoning our children on Sunday night? Really, why?

You can make a post that talks about collaboration, then make a sticky about exactly how we’re supposed to post in a collaboration thread, but refuse to answer simple questions about the reasoning behind some of your decisions.

It’s not very collaborative.

You get angry with us when we make negative comments about ‘you’, as a company, when we aren’t singling anyone out in particular, like it’s a personal attack. That’s fine, but if you are going to play that card, it’s a two way street. ‘We’ are an entity, and ‘we’ would like the same level of consideration.

notebene.3190:

It doesn’t seem like it solves what I was hoping it would solved, to avoid having to carry around 3 sets of chest, leg and feet armors – and wanting to carry around more.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Yes, I would not have to do that any more if I wanted to change my look whenever I wanted to, on the fly.

However, they key phrase in all my requests was – ‘like a dye’. In that, I was happy if they made me use stones and crystals (which you have to buy) to ‘unlock’ skins. I wanted to be able to use them freely, like a dye, without charge, whenever I wanted to, after I had unlocked the skin.

Those screenshots elude to not being able to change your look on the fly without restriction once you know a skin.

So I’ll have to carry around those 3 sets still, it would seem. And be limited to how many other looks I want based on bag space.

I’m also concerned about the line regarding town clothes about “items no longer available being converted to an endless tonic”. Like the halo? Every time I want to wear my old gathering shorts, I have to click a tonic item in my inventory? How will that work?

Gotta agree with this fine gentleman. I’m happy for the system, it makes a HUGE difference, but having to spend Transmutation Stones EVERYTIME you want to change appareance? Wow, not cool.

Tbh, they’re very good at pointing out good side of their patches leaving the ugly for players to discover for themselves in game. Because of this i’ll just wait and see how this whole “transmutation charges” thing turns out (there’s always a catch).

/debbiedowner.

I dislike this new wardrobe. There are no good points for me in it. I like to switch outfits often and have several sets to do so. I surely will not spend transmutation charges for my whole armor every day. That’s just ridicilous. I do hope the armor pieces will keep their appearance if I just switch from the inventory like I used to, because otherwise it will make everything far worse.
What I hoped for was something that required transmutation charges to unlock skins, but when unlocked for this char I can switch whenever I want to. And to unlock stat combinations as well so I don’t need an armor for every combination as well.

I’m going to miss being able to easily put skins I like on lowbies. For 80’s it’s great but customizing while leveling is going to be too expensive unless they make transmuting <80 things free.

I will not be using this new feature as it costs transmutation charges.

The transmutation charges seem a fine balance between functionality and monetization, and the whole system seems awesome, but it still leaves one problem out: you’ll still need to carry multiple copies of gear if you want to save your favourite looks to use them freely.

For this reason, to all anet devs reading this thread, I suggest the following: add a skin template load/ saving feature to the game, that allows you to store your favourite combinations and load them for free (no transmutation charges). However, in order to rpeserve monetaztion, make the maximum amount of skin tempaltes stored to be really low (like, 1 template per character), and allow players to buy more template slots in the gem store, or with a high number of transmutation charges.

It doesn’t seem like it solves what I was hoping it would solved, to avoid having to carry around 3 sets of chest, leg and feet armors – and wanting to carry around more.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Yes, I would not have to do that any more if I wanted to change my look whenever I wanted to, on the fly.

However, they key phrase in all my requests was – ‘like a dye’. In that, I was happy if they made me use stones and crystals (which you have to buy) to ‘unlock’ skins. I wanted to be able to use them freely, like a dye, without charge, whenever I wanted to, after I had unlocked the skin.

Those screenshots elude to not being able to change your look on the fly without restriction once you know a skin.

So I’ll have to carry around those 3 sets still, it would seem. And be limited to how many other looks I want based on bag space.

I’m also concerned about the line regarding town clothes about “items no longer available being converted to an endless tonic”. Like the halo? Every time I want to wear my old gathering shorts, I have to click a tonic item in my inventory? How will that work?

Olvendred.3027:

Speaking of new players… no traits at all until level 30? Sounds like early levelling just got worse.

Yeah, I feel bad for anyone leveling under this system. Some professions are really lacking till you get into the master traits, which are now backed off till level 60. And having zero access to traits, and the extra attribute points they bring, up till level 30 might actually be worse.

Speaking of new players… no traits at all until level 30? Sounds like early levelling just got worse.

Facilitating Friendly Play is pretty obvious to me…

1. Change all races to baby quaggans
2. Change all attacks to “blow bubbles”, “act cute”, and “fly kite/balloon”
3. EVERYONE IS FRIENDS!!!

wasted.6817:

Guild Wars is a land (zoo) of pink quaggan backpacks and purple haired rats, and horned cowcats running around. Brutal? Art? Ahem.

Well that’s the players choice to ruin an otherwise impressive environment. When I see the tiny Asian girls with minimum height wearing one of those backpacks, I die inside, trust me.