Guild Wars 2

Zaxares.5419:

I just want the Starcake recipe to be tradable so I can buy one for my Chef. I don’t even plan on MAKING any darn Starcakes; I just want to know how to make them!

Same.

I wish this thread weren’t debating whether or not the recipe is pay to win, but rather if a line was crossed in terms of the gem store being cosmetic only. Personally, I think it did cross that line. I suspect this was part of a new strategy to get people who aren’t interested in cosmetics to start buying their RNG boxes, so I’m not happy about that at all. The recipe should have been added to regular dragon coffers with a reduced drop rate the same way the skins were, or made tradeable, or both.

lordkrall.7241:

Which is exactly the point.

Well, then I really don’t see what incentive Anet would have to develop such a service. It’s obviously a problem since it doesn’t already exist and making it that punishing and expensive to race change I can’t see anyone in their right mind doing it.

Wow. I don’t know why you want it to be so expensive and penalizing. I honestly wonder how many people would bother with it at that point.

It seems to me that coding “Human Cultural Armor A” → “Charr Cultural Armor A” and/or “Human Personal Quest Choice A” → “Charr Personal Quest Choice A” wouldn’t be that difficult.

I can understand some level of discouragement to inhibit ‘abuse’, but if it’s too detrimental it’ll become a mostly unused service likely only purchased by people who have soulbound items like legendaries they don’t want to lose.

Joiry.2504:

Guild Wars: Beyond the Mists

An alternate world version of Tyria, without all this silly elder dragon stuff.

I wish. After WoW and Rift I am sick to death of dragons and GW2 has them too. There are other creatures in fantasy besides dragons!

At the very least Blackout Cache should be removed from the Cache Out achievement and Cache Out should count toward the meta.

mrstealth.6701:

Who in their right mind would buy those dragon coffers from the gemstore when you can easily get hundreds of the droppable version for free? Unless the chance to get a ticket from them is 50% (or at least 30%), they simply are not worth bothering with. And if items are made exclusive to gemstore boxes, the player backlash is brutal…and rightfully so.

Really? Because not nearly enough backlash occurred when they added that Dragon Revelry Starcake recipe only to Rich Dragon Coffers. Exclusive recipe to the gem store only available through RNG boxes. Personally, that crossed the line in terms of the gem store being “cosmetic only”. I’m particularly concerned that this is part of a new strategy to sucker players who aren’t interested in skins into buying the RNG boxes anyway by stuffing things like recipes into them.

DracosBlackwing.3174:

2. PvP being a part of EVERYTHING.

Totally agree with this. I wish WvW would be separated from PvE as much as sPvP is. It definitely should not be as heavily tied into PvE achievements as it is.

Surbrus.6942:

The only thing I really think is anti-alt is the ascended gear.

Definitely agree with this. I haven’t bothered with any ascended gear and probably won’t ever get a legendary as long as they’re soulbound. I just don’t play any one character faithfully enough to spend that amount of time and money into them. Add in my penchant of liking to try new builds, which requires new gear sometimes, and it’s just a straight loss no matter what.

1-2 months

One of the things I really hate about their 2-week cycle is feeling rushed to get achievements done particularly when there is very poor communication on Anet’s part about when they’re disabling achievement-based activities (especially when they’re required for the meta) like shutting down Molten Facility almost a full 3 days before F&F was supposed to end.

Krosslite.1950:

A lot of people keep mentioning the last ten months. Shame on you.
This has nothing to do with the state of Anet at this time. This is a recent development for them as this game comes into it own. To compare what they now promise to what has come out before should never be done. They have been trying something new and as of now is not how they thought two months ago let alone at the time they launched the game.

Well, unfortunately I have no means of judging what they’re capable of and/or planning to do other than what’s already been presented to me, which has been rather piddly “filler” content and a half-arsed zone that even their latest revamp/event couldn’t keep people in after it was done. I wouldn’t classify any of their Living Story content as enjoyable so far. Of course, I don’t do dungeons so that leaves spamming “F” at a lot of objects, grinding mobs for achievements, and a 5-minute single player instance every now and then with a less than compelling story.

I’m probably being overly pessimistic, but I also feel others are being overly optimistic. All anyone can do is wait and see.

el matadore.3852:

sky pirates to much as a filler? you get a new dungeon. I really don’t get why people are complaining so much about these updates.

What about people who don’t like dungeons?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

’Q: Do you predict that more zones will be opened with more Living Story content?

A: Absolutely. We want to see the world grow. So the idea of new large land masses and anything you expect from an open world or MMO environment is on our list.’

I’d feel a lot more confident about that if our only experience with a new zone hadn’t been Southsun Cove.

Vol.5241:

It is unreasonable to expect a new map every 2 weeks.

The 2-week schedule is something Anet has imposed upon themselves. I can’t say I’ve read very many endorsements of that schedule either, most people seem to feel it’s too much and I agree with them.

I would personally prefer more of a 4-8 week schedule with ‘beefier’ content instead of run around for a week spamming “F” on objects, grinding mobs for achievements, and maybe a 5 minute story instance. It feels like filler with no real substance or enjoyment. I don’t want or need that every 2 weeks.

Orr is not fun in any way, shape, or form.

Eh. If that’s the case then I’d really like to see them focus more on adding new zones, which is the main reason I’ve been hoping for an expansion. Real zones too, not half-arsed ones like SSC. Likewise, I would accept a complete overhaul of certain existing zones (so that they’re practically new zones), like Orr.

My enjoyment comes from alts and map completion and right now there’s a definite dead end to that content, especially with no expansion. I really don’t care much for what they’ve done with the Living Story so far and I hate all this temporary content.

I think most level 78 exotics are worth more selling than salvaging. O_o

Personally, I try to only use sub-80 exotics for transmutation so I wish more people would sell them.

Sounds like diminishing returns. I used to think I was bugged on certain events too, but it’s DR. It hits fast and hard with world bosses.

Doing things in between doesn’t always solve it. My experience has been that you have to make sure you are killing things that are not the same “type” as the world boss. In the case of Shatterer this means killing nearby branded usually doesn’t count, same with undead before Teq, or only doing the portals before SB, etc.

If you are getting the chest despite camping then I would check and see if you’re sure you’re not unknowingly killing additional mobs, like the Inquest around Golem will actually offset DR and it’s easy to kill them without trying during the event.

Basically, your options are:

1. Go out of your way to find different types of enemies before the event, try to kill as much variety as possible to be safe.
2. Don’t park a character at one event, bounce it between two nearby events. I have one alt that goes back and forth between Teq & Golem, another that goes to Maw & Jormag, another that goes to Fire Ele & Wurm, etc.

$1 billion is way too much money. I would never invest that in an existing game and/or company since that’s sufficiently more than enough to start my own gaming empire. :P

Regardless, my wish list would go something like this:

1. Hire real clothing/costume designers to put some actually attractive gear into the game.
2. Completely overhaul Orr with a likely ongoing story arc of it being progressively “healed”.
3. Flesh out Southsun Cove so there’s actually stuff to do there that isn’t overly punishing to soloists and smaller groups.
4. Focus on adding new character creation options on a semi-frequent basis. (Also, I would get rid of makeover kits and have in-game salons. It really irritates me that due to the gold→gems exchange changing your look continually goes up in price whenever something shiny is added to the store. It should remain a fixed price.)
5. Transmutation system would be completely overhauled. I’d likely just add an appearance tab so you’re not constantly having to destroy gear to change your look.
6. Dyes would be made account bound.
7. I’d create a PvE skins locker like what exists for PvP.
8. Expand on the personal story as frequently as possible.
9. Tone down DR a lot and possibly make it account wide (would have to see how well that worked).
10. Add a metric ton of minigames (because I love minigames and most MMOs are woefully lacking in them).

Just for starters. :P

1. Bugs. Take way too long to be fixed, if they ever are.

• I’m tired of the same events breaking, re-breaking, or staying broken. I’ve had to do Diessa Plateau after server resets on every alt I’ve made because the cattlepult has been dysfunctional since launch, as an example.
• Some issues will be ignored seemingly forever if devs can’t replicate the problem, despite how much player evidence is submitted to the contrary. This is why you need a PTR.
• More focus on fixing existing issues before creating new ones (temporary content) please.

2. Transmutation. For a game that’s supposed to be centered around cosmetics they have one of the most unforgiving systems I’ve seen.

• A ‘reverse’ transmutation would help a lot. A way to separate skins from gear so you can change your look more often. The fact that you flat out have to destroy one or the other to look different is ridiculous, especially with their penchant for “exclusive” skins means that they’re irreplaceable and it’s your gear, runes, sigils, etc. that will always take the hit.
• A PvE skin locker like what exists in Heart of the Mists would be even better.

3. Diminishing Returns. Overkill. Too punishing, too quickly.

• No clear way on how to remove DR once you have it other than “do other stuff for some indeterminate amount of time”.
• Too many areas have an abundance of the same enemy type to not get hit with DR even if you are playing “appropriately”. I know I personally get hit with DR before the end of the Ulgoth chain in Harathi Hinterlands after killing so many centaurs which is unavoidable.
• DR being account wide rather than character specific would possibly help.

Odinsfury.8360:

1. GW2 is very alt unfriendly.

Amen to that.

Osi.3504:

If you were a multimillionare on WoW you wouldn’t be here asking questions like this.

I was also “rich” in WoW. It is easy to make gold in that game. GW2 is a different story. I’ve struggled to make gold in GW2 because very few things have any substantial value and markets shift seemingly on a whim sometimes while people spend days afterwards trying to figure out, “Why did X suddenly skyrocket/drop like a rock?” I never experienced that in WoW at all.

Point being, the two economies aren’t alike so it’s foolish to compare the two. Just because you’re successful in one doesn’t mean the same tactics will work in the other.

Yoroiookami.3485:

At the moment 1 gold is only worth 28 gems. What the hell happened?

Molten mining pick is what happened. That item alone jacked the rate up by at least 1g per 100 gems. Hopefully now that all the infinite gathering tools have been released the exchange will stay settled for a while, although, I don’t expect it to go much below 3g/100.

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

yeah 1200 would do it for me :P

I ended up just buying another character slot when they were on sale, so cost me 640 gems I think?

I didn’t powerlevel via crafting since I enjoy map completion, but I suppose if I had it would have come out to (guesstimating) 15g per craft x 8 = 120g, which would be enough to buy ~4000 gems at their current rate. So, I guess your initial figure wasn’t off by much.

Personally though, I wouldn’t spend over 800 gems (the cost of a character slot) since it takes me no time at all to level an alt to 80. It would’ve been more convenient if I could have just race changed, but I don’t have the patience to wait for them to incorporate that. :P

Biohazard.4196:

More fire skins… ugh

This. I’m not sure it’s possible for the designers to move farther away from what I’d actually like to wear.

My potential losses won’t be quite that bad. The only skin I really overspent on were the GS ones, but they need to go above 30g/ea. for me to break even after TP fees. Unfortunately, the price of them has stubbornly stuck there since SAB ended.

I should have sold when speculation was high and GS was going for almost 85g, I could have made over double my investment.

Anasurimbor.5763:

So gold to gems isn’t feasible? That’s what I did when I wanted the recipe…

Wait for a fair-ish trade rate between the two currencies and trade.

that’s how I unlocked character slots and bag space.

Not the same thing. You didn’t have to buy RNG boxes and hope you got character slots and bag space as drops. If the recipe were a separate purchase then you’d have a point.

TheOneNOnlyGeneralBama.9586:

2000 or 3000 gems for one.

What do you have on your character that it wouldn’t be cheaper in almost every respect to just buy a character slot and level a new one? O_o

victor.4715:

I farmed mine. 5 quick runs a day

RNG favors you then. I ran SAB Z1 & Z2 chests every day across 8 characters and came out with 3 shortbow (i.e. the least valuable :P) skins for my efforts.

I’m at the point where if I could just break even with the skins I would sell. I was about as dumb as you could be as a new investor. Spent more than I should have and didn’t sell when speculation was high. Now I wish I had my gold back instead of a bunch of skins that may go up in value someday. :\

gurugeorge.9857:

Yeah there’s something a bit lacking in the armor design department at Anet.

I’ve thought for awhile now they need to hire an actual clothing/costume designer.

Either that or start holding contests for players to design and submit armors that’ll be added to the game. I mentioned that in another MMO’s forums and artists jumped at the possibility just to be able to list it in their portfolio regardless of any other rewards associated with it. (Too bad they, nor any other game I know of, has ever held such a contest.)

As a collector/completionist I’m also extremely disappointed they’ve gone this route. I only ever expected vanity items to be in the gem store, certainly not recipes. Had I known that I never would have leveled any crafting disciplines (and saved myself a lot of gold). As I mentioned in another thread, this is exactly why I don’t collect minis because I never wanted to feel forced to buy from the gem store to maintain my collections.

Having said that I probably would have reluctantly bought the recipe as an individual purchase, but I will never support their RNG boxes I don’t care what’s in them.

Now not only will my Chef never know all the recipes, but I suppose I can look forward to every RNG event box from now on including something like recipes to try and sucker people who aren’t interested in weapon skins into buying them. Awesome. -_- It definitely crossed the “that’s not cool” line for me.

AntiGw.9367:

You mean like minis? Which you could sell from the beginning?

There’s nothing wrong with making gold from buying gems. Wait, isn’t that how the store was supposed to work since launch?

I don’t deal with minis at all, so I am admittedly oblivious to most things regarding them. I assumed the same minis that can be bought in packs from the gem store were also available in the game somehow.

If that’s not the case then all I can say is I’m sorely disappointed that it appears recipes will now be included as gem store exclusives. This is exactly why I stayed away from minis because I am a completionist and I didn’t want to be forced to buy from the gem store to maintain my collections. Had gem-store-only recipes been going on from the beginning (like minis) I wouldn’t have leveled any crafting at all. It would have saved both my finances and my OCD. :P

As far as the gem exchange, that’s something that also benefits players who don’t spend RL $ in the gem store by keeping the conversion rate low(er).

LFk.1408:

Have you looked at the prices of the starcake at all, and compared them against the cost to craft?

Most people, if anything, are upset about how most crafted items are sold below cost of materials.

Enough to know that saffron spiked sharply. Prior to that was making it a loss?

Unfortunately, we won’t know how the Starcake recipe would have played out if it’d been in the RDCs from the start. Like most new things, I still suspect the first few to obtain the recipe would have made bank on it just like what happens with literally everything else in the game. Plus, the recipe was retroactively given to 100% of the players who purchased RDCs, so the recipe may have been intended to be rarer than it is.

AntiGw.9367:

This gives those who spend money no advantage, because there are tons of those Starcakes on trading post. You can buy as many as you like.

Except you can only buy the cakes from people who spent money for the recipe, which to me is a clear advantage in favor of those who bought Rich Dragon Coffers.

I really don’t know any other way to say it. What’s stopping them from next time putting in an account bound recipe for tailors that makes cloaks? (Oh wait, then it’d only be vanity, lol. -_-) Those who spend money (and are lucky with RNG) get the recipe first and will make a substantial profit being part of a small percentage of gem-buying players selling them. I’m fairly certain the first people to receive the Starcake recipe made a tidy little sum before it was handed out to every RDC buyer. I’m sorry, but that to me is an advantage.

Purchasing from the gem store should never result in something you can turn around for profit in the TP. That is my stance and it’s not going to change.

Those questions are a little too broad for me. I have one of every class except thief (working on that :P) and there are ones who are great at soloing for map exploration, but terrible for DEs (and vice versa) so it’s difficult for me to pick one that’s just bad at everything.

I will say that, for me personally, it came down to Necromancer & Engineer for PvE. However, that’s also based on pre-patch experiences.

I have no idea about dungeons, WvW, or PvP, I don’t do any of them enough to say.

LFk.1408:

… you can’t be serious. You don’t see how this relates?

It doesn’t relate on basically every possible level. I’m not even sure why you picked this example to argue.

First of all, boosters come readily in BLCs and you never have to buy a BLC key from the gem store since they’re easily obtained through map completion and personal story. You aren’t given a choice with Rich Dragon Coffers, you have to purchase them from the gem store. Therefore, they don’t share the same methods of acquisition.

Even if boosters were strictly gem store only items, you can buy exactly which boosters you want, they’re not tucked inside a gem-store-only RNG box where you hope you get the item you’re seeking. If the Starcake recipe were available as an individual purchase I still wouldn’t be pleased, but it’d be a far cry better than it is currently.

Not to mention that boosters aren’t equivalent to a recipe at all. Anyone can buy and receive boosters (or get them for free), not everyone can buy a Rich Dragon Coffer and receive the recipe. Also, since the recipe is account bound it means only people going through the gem store have access to it, which is a blatant slant toward the cash shop that definitely crosses over the “it’s only vanity” argument that people like to use for everything else.

Lastly, boosters give a 1 hour combat buff. A recipe is a permanent addition. If boosters added a permanent +5% to your character then, yeah, I’d be against that too. If the recipe were only able to be made for an hour and then it disappeared from your character and you’d have to buy another then I’d have no issue with it. Again, the two really aren’t comparable.

What they should have done was added the recipe to regular dragon coffers with a reduced drop rate and/or made them tradeable.

LFk.1408:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Strength_Booster
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armor_Booster

-_-

Those are available in BLCs, I have more of them than I know what to do with in my bank. All of my BLC keys have come from playing the game, I have never purchased one from the gem store. I really don’t see how this relates.

Largos! I would almost consider rerolling half my characters if they were a playable race.

I’d totally play a centaur too.

Prior to the patch the ice elementals used to break into 3-5 pieces of ice anyone could collect off the ground in addition to it being a part of their loot table. Now no ice bits drop at all and you can only get them individually from loot off their bodies.

This in itself wouldn’t be so bad if the event didn’t seem to need a lot more ice to complete than it did pre-patch. Plus, the elementals die so quickly it’s not always plausible for multiple people to be able to get hits to loot them, which is a further detriment to collection.

The past few times I’ve done the event with just 2-3 people we’ve had to clear out the entire cave about 3x to get enough ice and that was with us trying to let everyone get loot rights for more ice. It also doesn’t help that the respawn on the elementals is not enough to keep up with the demand of the event.

This is in Wayfarer Foothills, by the way.

Personally, I love doing map completion so having it shared across my alts would ruin the fun for me, but I’m not against giving others the option to do it perhaps as a check box in character creation.

I thought this thread would be about something much different, like the fact that it’s a money sink in almost every possible respect to have alts and there’s little to no benefit to having them other than your own personal enjoyment. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve played a single MMO I would consider “alt friendly”. I’ve always envied those who can limit themselves to playing one character because it’s so much easier to not have to do and/or pay for the same things repeatedly.

Well, suggestions for the best use of 50 skill points so they don’t go to waste works too.

I don’t mess with the forge much. Back when Incandescent Dust was 24c each I used to transmute it into Crystalline Dust for a tidy profit, but the prices for both have changed so much I’m not sure it’s worth it anymore.

I have 50 skill points I’m looking to burn on an alt I want to delete. Now that the price of dust has dropped substantially, is there a more profitable way to spend them than making a mystic weapon?

I’m just going to copy what I posted in this thread

I’m not on board with recipes being exclusive to the gem store, especially in RNG containers. This oversteps the “it’s only vanity” argument as far as I’m concerned.

The actual food may not be account bound, but the only method to obtain it is to buy it from people who spent RL $ in the gem store. Yeah, I definitely see a problem with that. It sets a really bad precedent that if you have the disposable income you can buy an advantage over other players. Measuring that advantage is moot, the fact remains that it exists.

The recipe should either not be account bound and/or have a chance to drop out of the normal coffers.

I got really lucky on my mesmer, received keys for almost every zone I completed a couple months ago. Then I made my engineer. :P I don’t think she’s gotten a single key for any zone she’s completed in the past month.

I’m also on my second stack of transmutation stones with absolutely nothing to do with them. I really wish they would add a forge recipe for them.

I’m trying to figure out what the best use of my last 10 trait points is and also if Coated Bullets is worth it for my build.

Note: This is something I concocted for DEs. The main focus was (obviously) on turrets and everything after that has just been, “Where can I put my other 30 points that won’t suck?” :P

Here is the basic build (w/Coated Bullets): http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-X;4cP-7-W6gSFx0;2Fs0Q6JU;5JT-9;156-29B;14;9;7kicA;2aq

So, I figure my options are:

1. 30 points Firearms for Napalm Specialist
2. 30 points Firearms for Modified Ammunition
3. 10 points Explosives for Incendiary Powder

Someone did point out to me that Coated Bullets may not be the best trait for me to take with a turret build in which case I would need to alter my master trait as well.

I’d appreciate any advice/suggestions anyone can offer. Thanks.

I’m not on board with recipes being exclusive to the gem store, especially in RNG containers. This oversteps the “it’s only vanity” argument as far as I’m concerned. It’s not comparable to the infinite gathering tools either. I can buy other gathering tools in game that have the same exact function, that is not true with this recipe.

The actual food may not be account bound, but the only method to obtain it is to buy it from people who spent RL $ in the gem store. Yeah, I definitely see a problem with that. It sets a really bad precedent that if you have the disposable income you can buy an advantage over other players. Measuring that advantage is moot, the fact remains that it exists.

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

Well, everyone who bought at least one rich coffer before today’s update will receive a recipe in a couple of days time. Hopefully they are tradeable, and that there are LOTS of them.

Well, that’s still only one recipe per person who purchased, so you’d be hoping for either 1) the chance that those people don’t have a chef and/or 2) the chance that they don’t want to keep the recipe for themselves. The odds don’t look good to me.

Definitely not pleased if there’s no chance of the recipe dropping from regular coffers. Plus, even if the recipe is able to be traded, how many players are still buying the rich coffers at this point in enough quantity that any spare recipes would show up on the TP? As someone who tries to learn all the recipes I find this incredibly frustrating.

I’ve been wanting them to add new armor skins to the gem store for ages, but these are just hideous. I’ve come to the conclusion whoever is responsible for the design for GW2 gear doesn’t share my aesthetic. Plus, female Charr and Asura sharing the male model armors is just lazy.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/stylish-new-items-available-in-the-gem-store/

I’m actually glad it’s in BLCs. Not only does it give me an excuse to actually open chests again, but it’ll probably end up on the TP cheaper than it would be to outright buy it with gems (unless the droprate is worse than the other BLC backpacks).

I’ve also been waiting for a bank tab sale (which I thought they were going to have in March). I’m just not willing to spend almost the cost of a character slot for only 30 more bank slots.

I think all of the storage capacity increases are too expensive. I’ll probably never buy extra bag spaces. 400 gems each and it’s not even account wide? Yeah, not happening.

Dragon Bash is still going on until July 9th, so theoretically the wings will still be dropping even when people have moved onto the Aetherblade stuff. I think most people have already bought a pair if they wanted them, so I’m not sure where they’re at now is the lowest they’re going to go. I’ve routinely been seeing orders for 100+ filled as well, which tells me there’s really no shortage of this item.

You may be holding onto it for a long time if you want more than ~9g for it.