Guild Wars 2

Vol.7601:

I bought it and I like it.

I guess I will continue to subsidize this game for you non-purchasers

You’re welcome!

By doing so you encourage a pricing scheme that actively deters players both from buying gems and playing (and therefore inviting others to play). So in the long run, the game loses money and players.

I’m very happy to support the game, but 500 players buying these at 800 gems is financially the same as 1,000 buying them at 400 because there are no material costs once the design has been made. In the latter case, you get 1,000 happy players who feel they got a good deal, in the former you don’t. Happy players and same money > unhappy players and same money. That’s even assuming that halving the price would only double the buyers, and ignoring other factors like the fact that at 400 gems you’d still need to buy 800, and that more loyal players will buy more things in the long run.

Has anyone on EE managed to resolve this? My game has been unplayable at peak times (all evening) for about a week now.

Vol.7601:

Taras.4578:

400 a piece, that was a bit greedy of anets imo. Would loved to have seen a 600gem pack for both, nevertheless i bought both of em to show support to anet’s living story. Even tho it will just count to their more future sales of these kind of prices.

I know, it’s a shame that you can’t buy these with in-game gold

OH WA-

The gold to gem thing was a genius move on ANet’s part because, despite the fact that the gold to gem ratio is huge, making it out of most players reach, it allows for arguments both ways no matter what you do:

1) This stuff in the gem store is overpriced!
But you can use in game gold, so its free.

2) This sale just meant the gem price went up!
The sale isn’t for you, its for people paying real cash.

So, the gems are too expensive for most players to buy with gold, you can’t complain that the stuff in the store is overpriced because its technically free, and if you complain that sales don’t benefit gold users then you don’t even count! Win, win, win!

This isn’t a criticism of ANet as such though, its a community thing. I wish we could just drop the gold-gem relationship entirely from discussions over pricing.

On that note, while 400 gems a piece isn’t the worst value for money we’ve seen in the gem store lately, does anyone else think that giving away one part of a set as the reward for the living story, then selling the other two matching pieces on the gem store is a bit shady?

Blude.6812:

GLaDOS.3705:

Dear developers,

I know that you’re going to take a break after current living story, but could you at least tell us if we’re going to get Super Adventure Box on April 1st? We have been waiting for half a year two times already. I know that SAB Team are working separately from you and there’re only 3 people, so maybe we can get it? It’s not quite living story for sure, but you cannot believe how much it means to us.

Best regards,
SAB Fans

Sorry, but you aren’t speaking for me. I really don’t want Anet wasting their time working on this kind of fluff until other core issues with the game are solved.

In which case can we at least have worlds 1 and 2 back? Ideally without taking them away again. I love SAB and it sucks only being allowed to play it two months of the year.

MailMail.6534:

I understand the bitterness in the pvp forums, but it seems everyone in this one complains about buying things…from a game that is free to play. Hmm, I think I’ll go back to the pvp forums where at least their outrage is partially deserved.

The thing is, I join in with these complaints (or rather, contribute feedback) because I LIKE Guild Wars 2. I want the game to succeed, not be abandoned. The PvE endgame in GW2 is supposed to be cosmetic, which means that if the best skins are locked behind RNG or the cash shop, the endgame is either luck to win or pay to win. If players get bored of playing a lottery, they’ll leave. If players feel disrespected, they’ll leave. If players don’t have anything to do but zerg/champ farm for gold, they’ll leave.

In all of these cases, ANet lose money. This isn’t an issue of “The game is free to play, so we should be grateful for whatever we get”, it’s an issue of “We want this game to make lots of money, so we want people to have reasons to keep playing it”.

The weird thing is that there are several areas in the game where skill IS actually a factor, but each one has had its reward system undermined in a different way:

1) Dungeon vendors – Not actually that difficult, and sellers undermined it.
2) Fractal weapons – locked behind RNG rather than level or tokens, in perhaps the single most bizarre decision regarding skins in the game.
3) The Liadri mini – Taken away, lagged by being non-instanced, and it was just a mini.
4) SAB tribulation weapons – only available at certain intervals, kind of a reward for being good at a different game.

I really, really dislike the focus on the gem store of late, and the fact that there isn’t really any prestige armour or weapons in a game about cosmetics, but the content is actually programmed that would have allowed for everyone to be happy(er). The dungeon armours and weapons are IMO the best implemented skins so far (if they make SAB and the Queen’s Gauntlet permanent then they’d rank up there too).

I’m also someone who would buy more gem skins if they were account bound. I am really skeptical that there are enough people buying five sets of each skin to outweigh the number of people buying zero because they aren’t account bound. Same with dyes and gathering tools (which at least were sort of changed).

The additional cost to the game though is the way that the gem store feeling like a rip off effects the way players view the game. I absolutely love the game, but I find it really difficult to recommend to people because of things like the gem store (and the temporary content). Its like someone slapped a McDonalds logo over the face of the Mona Lisa, it doesn’t ruin the rest of the painting, and it kind of makes me want a Big Mac, but it hugely devalues the overall value of the product.

Put lots of things in the gem store that are good value and you get lots of money AND lots of happy customers (I mean, really, how hard would it be to churn out some of the recent dyes/tattoos/reskins for 50-100 gems each, or to make skins account bound). Put a few things in the gem store that aren’t good value for money and you get a fair bit of money, some happy customers, and lots of unhappy customers. Happy customers play more, buy more, and recommend the game to others more. Unhappy customers… don’t.

I really hope this doesn’t become a gem store thing. I hate the rotation on the activities and the fact that we can’t play with guild mates, but this is varied gameplay content that should just be in the game, not locked behind a pay wall. Between the rotation on activities, and the temporary nature of SAB etc. there is so much gameplay variety that we aren’t able to access. I’m hoping that after this season we’ll start to see this sort of thing reintroduced permanently so that we have more things to do when we log in.

I’m among those who don’t really want LA rebuilt, but I do think omitting the Laurel Vendor was a bit of an oversight. ESPECIALLY when the “pay to access” laurel vendor is on the map right above the keep. I have no issue with the airship as a gem store convenience item, but making the game less convenient in the very same patch and then advertising the airship on the map is a bit shady looking.

I actually think this was an oversight though, or else a deliberate attempt to get people to go to home cities. I don’t think ANet would expect people to just say “Oh well, it used to be free and convenient, but now I’ll just pay for what I had before”, rather than come and complain about it.

While I do support this idea, and would use it, it isn’t without its problems. The point is to allow you to make very quick AoE actions, but other than things like blink (which this would be awesome for) situations which require this are situations you don’t want to miss.

Imagine this. You are standing facing an incoming mob. You try to quickly drop some AoE on them, but they are out of range. Rather than get a red message you starting firing on some empty space in between you and them. As you are stuck in the skill animation, the group closes in. They get within range… and your AoE is now on cooldown.

Nice idea I’m going to guess two Quips

I think keeping this as a several year goal is a good idea. There are only two sets, which means that there isn’t much variety among those who get them. Can you imagine Lion’s Arch if even 20% of players were wearing a full set of radiant armour?

It also makes them actually special. The zenith skins are amazing, but they aren’t special because you get your choice of whichever one you want so early.

What we’re missing is a medium term goal. Zenith is short term. Hellfire/Radiant is long. A unique skin at each 10k mark might have been an idea, even just a backpiece that came in different colours for each 10k or something.

Actually, what would have been really cool would be that at every 10k (or whatever number, that’s just a round one) you get a new effect/colour for all the zenith skins you have unlocked.

TChalla.7146:

I’m sure I’m in the minority on this, but I actually like the system the way it is. If I get a duplicate dye, I have the option of either giving it to an alt or selling it. My characters are all completely different, and I’ll want different dyes on each one anyway, so I don’t really need to have the same dye pallet for each character.

But that’s just me.

It isn’t about the palette for me, it’s about the collecting. When I started playing I opened every single unidentified dye I got, and never bought a single dye off the TP. It was a game I was playing where I wanted to collect them all for fun. Each unidentified was a new bit of fun. Then I found out they weren’t account bound and boom, not fun anymore.

That’s why I don’t buy gem store dye packs. There’s no fun in the RNG (at least for me) because it isn’t a collectable, you’re hoping for a specific dye (either for your palette or just the most expensive one to sell). Its far more practical in that case just to go to the TP and buy the one you actually want.

neko.9028:

It will never happen, because if this happens the gemstore dye kits are not going to profit them, that is literary the ONLY reason to why they are NOT accountbound. If I remember correctly this was a choice made by the woman who runs the gemstore, Cox.

As I’ve said many times, and I suspect I’m not alone. I don’t buy gem store dyes BECAUSE dyes are soulbound. It isn’t just the fact that gem store dyes are hugely pricey for only one character, but the fact that there is no incentive to “complete the set”. If dyes were account bound, then having them all would be feasible for collectors. Thus collectors would buy even dyes they didn’t like. They’d also be happier to get RNG packs because 1) they’d be more fun for a collector (“RNG” packs in real life are pretty much only made for collectibles) and 2) there is more incentive to buy because you aren’t just going for the specific dye you want as they all have value in completing the set (even the non-new ones).

I love this idea.

Midnight Gypsy.9360:

Not going to happen. Dyes wont be worth anything on TB so what good would those who who bought more than get the extra ones back. Everyone would want the gold they spent on them to be returned, that is the only way this will be acceptable.

The dyes that “everyone” has might go down, but the other ones could go up. Suddenly, rather than being worthless, the less popular dyes would be things that every collector wanted one of. Moreover, there’d be a good reason to have how ever many different shades of green, so demand for those may go up too.

As I posted in the Black Lion forum, just send any duplicate dyes back to the owner in the mail. Hopefully the increased demand (from dyes being better) will balance out the extra supply from people who decided to buy Abyss on half a dozen alts.

It would make the game more fun for collectors and, more importantly, make the gem store dye packs more appealing because completing the set becomes a reasonable and desirable goal again. I think that like the binding changes made/being made to infinite gathering tools, the account locker, and WXP, this is the sort of game improvement that we can hope for from ANet.

Xia.3485:

CrashTestAuto.9108:

I just put it in another thread, so I’ll add it here:

Gem store elite, same strength as a racial or the Mistfire Wolf:

Hero support: Summon a random alt from your account for thirty seconds. Uses generic class skills or those associated with its primary weapon if possible. For players with no alts, a generic NPC is summoned.

Except these elites aren’t related to your race nor your profession.. simply generic. Why would my human thief help my sylvari elementalist? It makes sense when a sylvari elementalist summons a fire elemental, or some plant thing. It makes sense when my human thief summons a thieve guild’s help, or gets “possessed” by a human God. But why would one of my toons summon another?

The elites should be related to our character somehow (profession, race, living story achievements, personal story) or at the very least be a mystical creature like the mistfire wolf.

Is it really so implausible that your alts might actually be on the same side? Its not like the thieves guild or the Mistfire Wolf are explained in game, or we see you meet them. We just accept that thieves have contact with the guild and that… something with the wolf.

Is it really pushing suspension of disbelief so far to think that our characters, all of whom are fighting in the battle against Zhaitan, are on the same side? Besides, I specifically said it was a gem store idea and intentionally weaker than class elites. If you don’t want your toons to be allies, then just don’t buy it.

I just put it in another thread, so I’ll add it here:

Gem store elite, same strength as a racial or the Mistfire Wolf:

Hero support: Summon a random alt from your account for thirty seconds. Uses generic class skills or those associated with its primary weapon if possible. For players with no alts, a generic NPC is summoned.

I would love them to implement this somewhere, but not in all PvE. I would love the option to do this even if it was implemented lazily in like a single dungeon. Either by giving them the AI of current NPCs of similar classes, or by just making them spam the one skill. No heavy resources dedicated to it, just a really lazy “here you can play with your alts in this area as a team” for screenshots and just general fun solo play.

Alternatively, if they brought it in as something like a racial elite. Less powerful than others so as not to be imbalanced but just a “summon a random alt from your account for 30 seconds” like the mistfire wolf. No special skills or utilities, just generic attack skills associated with their class (and if possible, weapon). For players without alts just add a generic NPC.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

Hmm, I could see a large crash in the market of the “Expensive/sought after” dyes,i know I’m not the only one with 6-7+ characters, all with Abyss/Black/Celestial/White Etc on each of them, it would add a massive supply (if they returned all the extra dyes)(and if they didn’t there would be outrage of people having wasted hundreds of gold), while the demand would probably remain similar (remember that most people actually already have them) (this is all speculation and my own thoughts on the matter)

See this is where it is hard to speculate without numbers. You may be correct. However, I suspect you are not particularly common in this regard. So while the supply may go up a bit, the demand would reflect it.

Moreover, it would suddenly make the dyes people don’t want MUCH more popular because people want them for completion. Not only would this mean that we might see more variety in dye use (because Abyss wouldn’t have as much “prestige”) but the extra value on low dyes would make gem store dye packs less of a gamble because you no longer get “worthless” dyes.

Without numbers though I have absolutely no idea where anything would go. I just know that it would encourage collection (which would encourage gem store purchases), and make players happy, which seems good enough reason to me.

crosknight.3041:

certain dyes i could see being account bound but as stated earlier: it is profitable for anet to have people buying dyes from the gem store.

I think this is debatable. As I said in my OP, I specifically don’t buy gem store dye packs because they are character bound and it made me lose interest in collecting the set. There is no incentive for completionists with alts to grab any dyes other than the ones they want. Even for the ones who want to complete the set on alts, they can just say this:

Khisanth.2948:

I am in the process of unlocking every dye on every character. On certain characters before others. Excluding the gem store ones. Not going to bother with that kind of lottery.

There is already precedent that ANet acknowledge this kind of reasoning because the infinite gathering tools were made account bound. Outside of the gem store, WXP and an account locker are looking optimistic.

I am not sure what the stats are, so can’t say it IS more profitable for them to be account bound. I’m just throwing my hand up and saying “I don’t buy gem store dyes because they are character bound.”

Even if it was even financially for ANet, its a change that would make the game more fun for collectors, and also add more variety to the aesthetics that we see around the world.

While I loved the old Flamekissed set, the endgame of Guild Wars 2 is supposed to be horizontal progress, largely through aesthetics. The T3 cultural, at least financially, and for many players, represents the “pinnacle” of that for armour (legendaries for weapons).

Do we really want what would become the “Best in slot” aesthetic in a game focused on aesthetics to be in the gem store? Isn’t that, and I hate using this phrase given how often it is used, kind of the definition of Pay to Win?

Khisanth.2948:

At best I could see this happening with gem store only dyes but that would probably result in a price increase for those dyes.

I wouldn’t mind the price increase because those dyes would actually increase in value. I hate the current system where I only buy the dyes I specifically want for that character (and if I then change my look, the dye is basically wasted).

I really don’t know why the current system is in place. I can’t see it making more profit than the alternative (hopefully the infinite tools reflected this and will encourage such a change), particularly given that there is no incentive to buy a dye pack you don’t actually want “just to complete the set”. It also makes the game less fun for people with alts (or considering an alt).

Okay, firstly, I know this has come up before, but I haven’t seen it in a while and I’m revisiting it. Secondly, and more importantly, I think this would make ANet money. Thirdly, WXP is supposed to be made account bound soon, so this isn’t unprecedented.

I like collecting things, as do many players. If dyes were account bound, then I would collect them, it would have been a goal from the start (it actually WAS a goal from the start, including only using unidentified dyes to do so, until I realised they were character bound). If I was collecting dyes, then I would also invest money in gem store dyes (I’d even enjoy the luck factor, to a degree). In short, while I represent one player, by making dyes character bound, you have stopped me spending money in the gem store.

My solution:

1) Make unlocked dyes account bound.
2) Where an account has more than one of that any specific dye unlocked, mail one (or more if necessary) unused dye to their account. If the mail system can’t cope, introduce an NPC to do the job.
3) If (2) is impossible, then implement (1) anyway, and deal with cases where people owned many of the same expensive dyes individually via tickets, as was done with Flamekissed Armour. I believe a lot more players would be happy with the change than upset, and those that were upset could be appeased relatively easily in most cases.

Results:

1) People start collecting dyes, people buy more dyes with gems.
2) Specific dyes become more sought after, raising prices.
3) People only need one of each, balancing out (2).
4) A new type of activity has been introduced to the game for players with alts (dye collecting), making the game more fun for them.

I did a couple of fractal runs after Fractured, but the increased likelihood of dredge (and it getting worse) means that I keep thinking “I’d like to do Fractals”, but then not bothering. Its such a shame that one of the only permanent elements added to the game isn’t fun for me any more. There is soooo much content that has been available and now isn’t, and this is just one more way in which I feel unnecessarily limited by the options available.

Seras.5702:

All UI stuff should disappear from the top-right in PvP and WvW, except for achievements specifically tracked.

PLEASE don’t limit removing it to WvW and PvP. Part of the reason I finished the personal story was to get rid of the green text, and then dailies, monthlies and living world came and replaced it (and I still have the green text on alts). A simple “quest” tab or something like that (as in the original game) would do the job.

Flissy.4093:

Jco.6031:

For those players that … support the game

You mean people who buy from gemstore? Yeah, they get rewards. People who have bought the product – the game – and don’t fund through the gemstore don’t deserve anything more, regardless of how many hours they’ve sunk in.

While it would be unfair to suggest that ANet share this attitude, given the abundance of extra content given free, it seems worryingly close to whoever is running the gem store itself.

Guild Wars 2 is an MMORPG. Without players, the game would die. The people who populate worlds, engage in chat, participate in world/guild events, run their own events, compete in WvW and PvP, stand around looking pretty, and tell their friends about it are the reason that the game isn’t just a story campaign about an NPC with a strangely non-linear map between chapters. Giving money to support the game is excellent, and I encourage it (though again, whoever is running the gemstore is working hard to discourage it lately), but that doesn’t make everyone else worthless.

That said, AFKers make 1,000 hours rewards a bad idea. Achievement rewards, do the job just fine. Though perhaps a little more variation in the “big” milestone rewards might be nice, after about 10k you pretty much just get everything you didn’t want the first time around.

An Asuran hoverboard would be awesome, but I think they’d need to think carefully about how it works. A few inclinations I have:

1) Not allowed in towns (no hoverboarding signs if need be).
2) Town clothes only, not usable in combat.
3) Perma-swiftness (not in WvW).
4) If possible, a slight delay on stopping. Perma swiftness in JPs combined with slightly trickier handling would be AWESOME as long as you can just step off the board and do it normally.

I’d say if you lose (2) or (3) then you should lose the other as well. A perma-swiftness item is a huge deal, so compensating by town clothes only would help. That said, a town clothes item without perma-swiftness offers less mobility than walking.

I don’t see this needing an expansion though…

Weindrasi.3805:

The complaints over 500 gems are silly. The mask is purely cosmetic, so we’re lucky they didn’t price it at 2,000 gems. When the thing came out, I spent a couple days and earned 40g, traded it for gems, and got the mask. If you want special cosmetic gear, take some time to work for it.

The issue isn’t that its difficult to get (I don’t even want it), its a matter of feeling respected as a customer. People who are loyal to ANet, who bought the game (many before release), who buy gems regularly, and who recommend the game to their friends want to feel respected and valued. You can’t be loyal to a company you feel is trying to rip you off with an overpriced product.

Again, I’ll point to Valve and the Steam business model. Unplayed Steam games are so prevalent as to be an actual meme, and people love Valve. They make good games, and they provide excellent value for money, even on things you actually don’t need or want. ANet could be selling thousands of masks/dyes/minis, have happy customers and positive word of mouth. Instead they sell fewer masks to people who’d have had to buy 800 gems anyway if they didn’t have them saved, and have a load of customers feeling like they’re being milked for cash.

Cultural backpieces do seem the obvious answer to Charr clipping. All with optional guild emblems.

Human → Cape
Sylvari → Flowery cape
Asura → Hologram emblem
Norn → Fur cloak
Charr → Armoured shell? (probably spikey, though I’d prefer not)

Or something like that. Though I do think that just making the capes short (at least on Charr) would solve the clipping issues enough.

Don’t use crafting to level before 30, even if you somehow manage to afford it. The game is designed to unlock skills at intervals up to level 30 so you aren’t overwhelmed and actually learn how to play your class. Besides this, the starter zones are some of the best ones, and you get slightly less proportional experience for them at higher levels.

As others have said though, the game gives you experience for basically everything. So do what you enjoy

I like the LS, I just wish they’d stop making content temporary when it doesn’t need to be. SAB, the Queen’s Gauntlet, activities only popping on certain days. So much gameplay variety that just doesn’t get used most of the year, and when it does you have to rush it all at once. It also makes the events that actually should be temporary (Halloween, Wintersday) feel less special.

If someone who had quit a year ago asked me what was new for them to try out I’d be kind of stuck, even though in actuality a LOT has been given to us for free. I’d love to be able to log in and actually be spoiled for choice on what to do, which would be the case if they’d left in SAB (a completely different experience with unique rewards), Queen’s Gauntlet (a challenging solo area), and activities (highly varied, though should be playable with friends).

Stark.1350:

Shufflepants.9785:

They could give you Keg brawl with guildies, but you would not be able to progress any achievements while in the guild version. Would you still want to play in the guild mode?

Yes, absolutely.

Same. We managed to get a few of us into Sanctum Sprint once and it was AWESOME. Didn’t even think about achievements. Between making activities playable in guild (and not on a rotation), making SAB permanent, and bringing back the Queen’s Gauntlet (instanced), the game could offer so much more variety and fun.

That said, there are plenty of spammable achievements. What proportion of costume brawl achievements are won legitimately?

I really wish SAB was permanent. I can see why some content is temporary, and why some is annual, but I can’t see why SAB needs to go away. Lore wise there is no reason, and gameplay wise it forces players to rush through the content. Let us have some extra variety in what we do when we log in!

(I’d say the same for the Queen’s gauntlet, though at least that had some justification in lore)

TooBz.3065:

Most people would object. The only thing that keeps the gem store from being a p2w issue is that you can buy gems with gold.

I’d actually like this to get rid of that excuse. The gold to gem conversion is ludicrous for an average player, so while in theory anything can be bought with in game gold, in practice it can’t be. This leads to the same issue being brought up every time something in the gem store is overpriced. People complain about the gold cost, then are told it isn’t for them, its for people spending actual cash.

Separate the store and we might actually get cheap items back that encourage people to spend $10 to get the item and have gems left over. No worry about lost sales through people converting. No excuses about it not being pay2win because you can, hypothetically, get it with in game gold.

Some items shouldn’t be behind a pay wall. Bank tabs etc. I think belong in an either/or store. Transmutation stones shouldn’t be in the game at all IMO, but also DEFINITELY shouldn’t be in a cash only shop. Cosmetic items, and some musical instruments etc. (not all of them) could be cash only though.

That said, much as I’d like to get rid of the “you can buy it with gold” thing, the backlash would be horrific.

I can only eyeroll at the mask price, but what’s up with the “Has ~20% chance to yield Watchwork Sprockets when digging from any node.” Does this mean that it has a 20% chance of replacing what you should get with a sprocket, which seems like a bad idea long term? Or does it mean there is a 20% chance of adding a watchwork sprocket to what you get, which seems like it renders the previous infinite tool inferior?

I know they didn’t say that tools would remain BiS in the strictest sense, but this doesn’t seem like it will encourage people to invest…

Infamous Darkness.3284:

I assume it is similar to the situation with the wintersday weapons from last year if you purchased them before they were a black lion ticket item they are account bound even if never used. (I have two sitting in my bank with no plans to ever use them)

A lot of people had the same problem with Fused skins.

darkace.8925:

Gather ‘round, kiddos, it’s story time.

A few years back the people who make EVE Online released a very expensive vanity piece (a monocle, I believe). This item cost those who wished to purchase it a whopping $40. Shortly after this item hit the cash shop an internal memo from one of the company’s higher ups was leaked. In this memo he acknowledged that the item was ridiculously priced and guaranteed to drum up a kitten storm of backlash from their customers.

That’s right…they knew the item was priced way more than it should have been and they knew their customers would be upset over the pricing of such an item. But they did it anyway. Why? Well, as the memo explained, they only needed to sell a few of the items to turn a profit; and they knew there would be a portion of their player base who would spend any amount of money to look unique.

The morale of the story? Developers can and do release highly overpriced items because they know there are players who will pay for them. And because it only takes a few of these items to pay for the development costs, and everything after that is profit, they will continue to do so. That’s just the way it is, and that’s probably the way it will always be.

The thing is, this misses at least four massive factors:

1) The loss of sales at a lower price to more people.
2) The loss of bulk gem purchases (minimum 800 gems) bought to buy the single lower priced item, as well as bulk purchases to “top up” leftover gems.
3) The loss of sales to customers who have got frustrated with the gem store and stopped supporting it.
4) The loss of sales to new customers brought into the game by positive word of mouth.

(3) and (4) represent far more than just purchases of the nodes/primers. Many people buy gems on a regular basis JUST to support the game. The less they feel like valued customers, the less they’ll be inclined to do that. Even those who do can’t go and tell their friends about how much better they get treated in GW2 than they did in EVE.

I mean, I love the game, but its been a long time since I found myself able to sincerely recommend one of my friends spend their money on it.

I don’t understand what is going on with gem store pricing. It used to be at least plausible that the handful of people buying things multiple times at high prices outweighed the potential for thousands of people to buy one each at reasonable prices, but now it just seems so unlikely. I mean, who is buying the BL starter pack, even at “discount” price?

On top of that the pricing is alienating a lot of players, and making it really difficult to be positive about the game. As I’ve said before, I love the game in almost every other area, but the gem store is making me feel less and less like a valued customer.

The benefits thing is a cool sounding idea, but would force people to play through to level 80 four times to get a single maxed character. I really don’t think that would go down very well :p

Also, losing your materials would sort of screw over your alts for no obvious reason…

I would love a way to access a secondary set of class skills though

Whoever is pricing the stuff in the gem store recently, I really hope they’ve done their maths. I’m getting more and more concerned that the income from having a handful of people buying expensive stuff is going to be MASSIVELY outweighed by the amount lost on:

1) Multiple sales of the same item at lower price.
2) Income from people who buy gems purely to support the game and have lost loyalty.
3) Income from players who have left the game out of frustration and lack of feeling appreciated as a customer.
4) Income from new players encouraged by positive word of mouth.

(2), (3) and (4) are most worrying because even players who don’t leave are going to become less and less positive about the game

Its a real shame because the rest of the game is awesome, and apart from the temporary nature the regular free updates are really cool.

Kain Francois.4328:

ANET did realease Champion boxes and their exclusive skins people were asking for (such as the Rapier and Cliffside Hammer), so I will give them credit on that.

Really great addition to the game.

And the SAB skins, and all the back pieces.

I do think the game has gone in an overly gem-store direction, but there have been quite a few additions outside of it.

RainbowSyrup.4130:

last year they had a santa hat in the gem store for 25 gems

They also gave everyone this:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Toymaker_Tixx's_Gift

It isn’t Christmas just yet. Let’s wait and see

As others have suggested, it is personal preference. I got it ages ago and got fairly into prophecies, but not hooked. Then booted up a new character in factions and was playing it more than GW2.

It will depend on whether you like micromanaging and things being a bit more difficult than GW2, and how well you cope without a jump button.

Graphically, the sacrifice depends on your current setup. The drop from a GW2 on high is pretty big, but high GW1 is prettier than low GW2 in my opinion. It isn’t as technically impressive still, but the design is better looking and environments feel more epic.

It would make sense, given that they are given out for achieving things. Plus it would actually draw attention to the Hall, which might get some people playing GW1. You’d need a different NPC though, maybe a Priory member investigating it or something.

I’m hoping at some point the Hall becomes restorable and we can have statues and stuff in there (with incredible optimism, statues from both games).

The issue is the same in SAB, with the titles being based on the world completed rather than total completion. I’m hoping (at least with SAB) that they introduce a meta-meta achievement that counts the number of titles you have earned. Something similar would be cool for holiday metas (ideally with maybe one less than total required for the title, so people who are away one year or bought late aren’t excluded just for one missed event).

Yeah, the JP and the bells really could have been party based. They’d be way more fun.

We managed to get about six of us from the same guild into Sanctum Sprint once and it was AWESOME. I actually found myself comparing it to Mario Kart and not just in the sense of “this is an incredibly poor imitation of Mario Kart”. We’d run guild events in the activities weekly if it were possible.

TPMN.1483:

ANET made a mistake – it would be unfair to people who didn’t buy it during the limited time it was available to then give it to free.

It isn’t a question of fairness, it is a question of making up for a mistake that affected certain people. The people who didn’t buy it during the limited time didn’t have their purchase taken off them, nor did they transmute/dye/buy new gear. ANet’s mistake upset players with original T3 and customers who bought the item. They’ve solved the first problem, and I’ve suggested a way to compensate for the second (because they can’t do what people want them to and let them keep the reskin).

Moreover, the solution I suggested makes ANet’s life easier. How exactly do they deal with a customer who bought the skins, used them on armour, and bought dyes or weapons to match it? Even a minimal solution that ignores the extra costs has to roll the armour back to its original state, and they have to deal with countless tickets explaining the various individual costs involved. My suggestions just sidesteps that entire issue except in cases where players got really screwed, which should be dealt with anyway. It also prevents the inevitable complaints that “The new armour looks much worse” because anyone stuck with it gets it discounted/free, so really can’t moan that much.

Yeah, I’m also in the “glad they’re repeating a lot” camp. Spending resources developing something that is by nature “traditional” would seem like a waste. I agree that Halloween wasn’t as good as the first year but, well that was because it was the second time I did it. Next year I won’t be expecting much new and it’ll just be nice to see the JP again, alongside whatever the actual LS content is.

The only thing I do think they should do is (contrary to other opinions) have more stuff that is one off like the Mad Memoires. I like having a unique souvenir from the first event, and it’d be nice to have one from this one too (the candy corn mini and mask were kinda… meh). To be honest even if they’d just recoloured the flames on the backpiece that would have been cool enough. That way the original is still special, and the new players still get one like it.