The decision to permanently ban “exploiters” were made in good faith but the harm associated with the precedent set by ANet with this decision by far exceed any gain. In essence, ANet has sent the message that ANY profitable salvaged material is an exploit, (eg: salvaging a yellow for ecto). I do not think ANet fully comprehend the magnitude of the harm set by this precedent…
The message Anet has sent is actually a good message and does no harm. You cheat the system you get banned. Its that simple. It seems like a lot a lot of common sense is missing in some of these post. The only ones to get banned were the ones that really abused it. Its so easy to make gold in this game if you put in a bit of time but some lazy kitten gamers are always looking for a way to cheat the system. I mean how clueless does a person have to be to not realize that that wasn’t intended?? Come on now be for real. Don’t make excuses for those lazy gamers.
No, the message was far from “good”. The intention was good, but that intention was overshadow by the message. I, and probably most people, would agree that exploiters should be punished, that’s not being disputed here. What is, however, being disputed is what constitutes a “exploit”.
The definition of “exploit” set by ANet base on this action and precedent set from this action is so overly vague and destructive that is inconceivable how any logical person would support it, had they taken into account all perspective of this decision.
In fact, it would be in the best interest of YOU, the reader of this post, to condemn this decision made by ANet, because it most certainly have the power to get you ban right now on the ground of “exploit”. Why? Well, the message sent by ANet is “You made profit from salvaging a crafting item, therefore it is a exploit.” Do you not understand how much destructive power this interpretation of “exploit” is? While extreme, a person could be banned RIGHT NOW for salvaging a rare(yellow) peice of gear that dropped and selling the ecto because profit was generated, or using a valid mystic forge recipe programmed in by ANet. Does this sound like an exploit to you? It certainly isn’t to me. Even so, banning someone for that is within the scope of this precedent. Is this what you support? Probably not, but you support the intention, just as I do. It’s just that the means of achieving this intention is not that simple and this approach is certainly not the best.
There is good reason why bills are passed with caution. While its true that the intention of the bill is in most cases good, the method of achieving it can vary and often have unforeseen consequences. This is the reason why very little changes happen in the political world because good intended laws are axed due to the “side-effect” outweigh the benefit.
The decision to permanently ban “exploiters” were made in good faith but the harm associated with the precedent set by ANet with this decision by far exceed any gain. In essence, ANet has sent the message that ANY profitable salvaged material is an exploit, (eg: salvaging a yellow for ecto). I do not think ANet fully comprehend the magnitude of the harm set by this precedent…
I only bought 30 boxes and got all three minis plus 3 doubles and some stuffing for Foostivoo. Not too shabby…….
lol $37 for some pixel mini pets… Money well spent. I agree, you got lucky to have the opportunity to spend your money in such a fashion. Don’t worry tho, this fantastic opportunity will come again next month.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!
What did you put in for the name and address?
w/e you put in when you register your card online.
If you use prepaid mastercard, then for name just put For (first name) You (last name) and w/e for address.
Yes you can. Tested and confirmed by me during the beta.
Do you consider things like Bag slots, bank slots, character slots, elite skill, Permanent Golem Banker a cosmetic?
If something have a 0.001% of dropping, and is available on the Gem store, is it also consider okay, as long as its possible to drop ingame?
Just curious…
So if i put up a artificial “demand” of 500,000 Lodestone at 1c each, the drop rate should increase?
Without any precautionary measures, yes. That, off-course is another issue which is already in place.
What kind of precautionary measure could one exactly impose on this, without causing a greater harm to another part of the economy?
Also, working under the assumption such a measure is possible,this would create dramatic harm to the economy because all item will have similar cost, regardless of demand or supply due to the 1:5 ratio imposed on it. This would eliminate the fundamental principle of a free-market where price is determine by supply and demand.
Precautionary measure: Each item entered in the TP comes with a standard predefined value which serves as a cut off point to separate “true” demand from dummy orders. For example: ordering a precursor for 1c would not count as demand at all. As this is just an example i cannot define what that predefined value will be. One may say: adjust that value similarly tho how dungeon token rewards are measured. A standard cost regardless of efficiency of acquisition. As “true” demand grows, so can the cut off value – to deal with gold inflation.
Just my point of view: The concept of “free-market” is what allowed every single recession to take place. Do we need to follow it?
What your saying is self contradiction. You want to eliminate supply and demand and yet want to determine “true” demand from supply and demand.
How does this work? A lodgestone and a random green piece of gear would cost the exact same because the supply and demand would be the same (1:5), so how can a cutoff be imposed? Whos to say a precursor isnt worth 1c?
Firstly, the 1:5 is used as an example
Secondly, each type of material would fall under a different category. Excuse me for the confusion but i most certainly did not put lodestones and green quality gear in the same category.
Also, would you care to explain how i eliminated supply and demand? I referred to normalization of supply which has nothing to do with demand.(not directly at least)
I honestly don’t see how putting them in different category would be of any use. You eliminated supply and demand because its relevancy in determining price has been deprived using your suggestion. If supply will simply adapt to the demand(higher priced items are highest in demand), how exactly would a lodestone end up not costing the same as a green piece of gear?
Let us not confuse “total quantity demanded” and “demand”, Demand is the desire, whereas quantity demanded is people actually willing to pay at X price. Where sweet candy have the highest “total quantity demanded” but a legendary(eg; twilight) would have a higher demand than sweet candy but lower quantity demanded.
So if i put up a artificial “demand” of 500,000 Lodestone at 1c each, the drop rate should increase?
Without any precautionary measures, yes. That, off-course is another issue which is already in place.
What kind of precautionary measure could one exactly impose on this, without causing a greater harm to another part of the economy?
Also, working under the assumption such a measure is possible,this would create dramatic harm to the economy because all item will have similar cost, regardless of demand or supply due to the 1:5 ratio imposed on it. This would eliminate the fundamental principle of a free-market where price is determine by supply and demand.
Precautionary measure: Each item entered in the TP comes with a standard predefined value which serves as a cut off point to separate “true” demand from dummy orders. For example: ordering a precursor for 1c would not count as demand at all. As this is just an example i cannot define what that predefined value will be. One may say: adjust that value similarly tho how dungeon token rewards are measured. A standard cost regardless of efficiency of acquisition. As “true” demand grows, so can the cut off value – to deal with gold inflation.
Just my point of view: The concept of “free-market” is what allowed every single recession to take place. Do we need to follow it?
What your saying is self contradiction. You want to eliminate supply and demand and yet want to determine “true” demand from supply and demand.
How does this work? A lodgestone and a random green piece of gear would cost the exact same because the supply and demand would be the same (1:5), so how can a cutoff be imposed? Whos to say a precursor isnt worth 1c?
Your endgame starts…now!
So if i put up a artificial “demand” of 500,000 Lodestone at 1c each, the drop rate should increase?
Without any precautionary measures, yes. That, off-course is another issue which is already in place.
What kind of precautionary measure could one exactly impose on this, without causing a greater harm to another part of the economy?
Also, working under the assumption such a measure is possible,this would create dramatic harm to the economy because all item will have similar cost, regardless of demand or supply due to the 1:5 ratio imposed on it. This would eliminate the fundamental principle of a free-market where price is determine by supply and demand.
Devs too lazy to document it, or just routine stealth nerf and don’t want people raging at their intransparency. Take your pick.
So if i put up a artificial “demand” of 500,000 Lodestone at 1c each, the drop rate should increase?
Wow Anet, you truly are a master of stealth nerf. Price of glue and wad went up 10x, while they nerf the chance of getting a endless. Tried 58 times, 0 (Zero) endless tonic. GG, you win ANet.
Why is the jumping puzzle so hard and long? They should really make it easier so its more accessible to most players.
Also, what do you get if you made it to the end? Is the reward repeatable?
I will let you guess which 2012 AAA MMORPG that cost money + a ingame cash shop and yet have no ingame GM…
Seriously, why can’t ANet hire a couple GM and allocate resources from the support team to answer ingame tickets and help solve problem realtime?
I really would love a reply for a Dev as to why they don’t do this, even “we can’t tell you” would be nice.
Because it would require more effort on the part of the dev.
The digital deluxe version is a bunch of one time use only items plus a summon skill with a useless pet. It’s not THAT good.
Oh I agree. But its not the items, its the principal Im questioning. Player A should not be treated any better (or worse) than player B.
We already have enough of that attitude from most big companies, After all Anets promises I guess I just expected more from them.
You bought this during release, you got to play it months before player B sets their hands on it. Anet obviously flip their finger to player B because player A gets to play it a lot sooner and more than player B = higher level, more gold and better gear. Right?
So using your logic, Anet gave the finger to both you and the new player amirite?
Most of the servers are always full or very high all day and night(even tho theres hardly anyone in the world). ANet please increase server population limit like before!
I was just being humorous. Tell me if i got you guys with the title. ;P
Rate 1-10
Its very hard for me going back to the starter zones to play with her since the teleport and repair bills are so high compared to the rewards. Any help?
You guys seems to make the same argument that has already been rebutted. If GW2 goes f2p, how exactly does ANet lose money? The 2+million box sales wont disappear, it would only increase ANet’s revenue with the gem store. Even if ANet dont change anything to make the store pay 2 win, it would STILL increase ANet’s profit. People can simply be compensated with $60 worth of gems and the ability to play for months before it went f2p. When the expansion comes out, they can charge for the expansion.
Hardly any new people are buying the game anymore because people want to try it first and downloading 30+gb to try out the game for 2-3days even with invites is hardly a incentive.
Everyone benefits from this. You get $60 worth of gems and tons of new people to play with, new players will be able to play the game for free and buy things in the store, should they choose to. Of course, ANet will make more money.
I hope this never happens
and your reason?
In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.
Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.
When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.
Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.
Why didnt you quote on this? I have felling that you are some kind of gold seller and want bots to have free acess to game?
Arenanet is smart. By making gw 2 f2p they would give free acess to every bot, gold seller, troll, etc.
‘’ I can play guild wars 2 for free !! Ye I got banned for hacking, botting
Who cares, I will just make new account
yeea’’
This is what you want?
I’m sure we don’t have any short supply of bots or gold sellers even right now where the game is buy 2 play. Sure, the # of bots will increase but so will the legit players so in the long run, the % of bots in the entire population as a whole should be rather close to what we have now. Its also worth mentioning that the majority of bots farm on hacked account so they wouldn’t lose any money at all and any decent mmo will always have problem with bots. Its an expected part of the game.
But the suggested way to expand the secondary source of income cuts off the guaranteed income entirely.
My reasoning is that if someone is going to buy gems from the gem store then they can afford to buy the initial purchase whereas people who wouldn’t buy the game upfront generally won’t buy gems.
Sure it does cut off the direct income entirely but when the cow runs out of milk, is it hard to imagine it comes beef?
Theres plently of players that will end up enjoying the game and thus spend $ on it in the form of gems but these players never play the game because they are on the fences and don’t want to risk $60. Granted, the majority of players will most likely not buy anything but the beauty of f2p is that vast volume of players it attracts, where even a small percentage is very large. Sometimes its better to have a small piece of a big pie than a large piece of a small pie.
(edited by Moderator)
No please
and about your idea … The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give free product to people? Guild Wars 2 is protuct itself, gems are also the product. Why should they give their money they would make for players for free?
Well, ANet can produce a infinite amount of GW2 access for free because of the nature of software industry. People who gets to play the game free wouldn’t have purchased the game anyway and ANet will make money even if a small % of these players ever bought gems or even indirectly influence another to purchase gem.
Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.
The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.
It WAS a huge source of income to ANet. Not anymore because the sales of box have long since reached its peak and now only serve as a obstacle to recurit new players. I would imagine the majority of “continued” revenue comes from the gem store, so expanding that to more players would be a smart business decision.
If I was ArenaNet I would favour guaranteed income (buy-to-play) from new customers rather than possible income (free-to-play).
With the buy-to-play model everyone is a customer. With a free-to-play model only those who purchase from the gem-store are customers. Divisions never help games.
Games that are free-to-play tend to have a subscription plan for premium members and that always divides the community.We don’t need the negative effects of free-to-play ruining GW2. The buy-to-play model worked for GW1 and I have faith in it for GW2.
This argument would had being valid if the “guarantee income” had not yet being secured, which isn’t the case because they already got your money and most likely 99.9% of people that would have bought this game. So if they already got most of the people that would buy the game, the only logical step is to expand their secondary source of revenue to a larger audience.
I hope this never happens
and your reason?
In F2P models you need to pay for content as it’s released, and some parts of the game becomes blocked off until you buy it.
Would you be content to purchase Orr for 5000 gems, or be willing to participate in the Halloween event for 3000 gems? Maybe even have half the professions restricted for a certain amount of gems. I’d rather pay up front and then have the game supplied in ‘free’ increments, while the entire game is accessible.
When an expansion comes out, I’ll pay for that, but I’d prefer not to have section of the game become locked away behind a large dollar sign.
Where does one get the idea that’s the only way a F2P game can function? Why couldn’t ANet simply keep the way the gem store is and open the game up as f2p? I assure you that they would make waaay more money than they are now and don’t have to do what you said.
When Apple opened a feedback department, it receives a overwhelming majority of complaints. Clearly, that’s how the majority of people felt about Apple.
btw, i agree with OP, just wondering how people would respond to that.
No please
and about your idea … The arenanet is company, can you tell me why they should give free product to people? Guild Wars 2 is protuct itself, gems are also the product. Why should they give their money they would make for players for free?
Well, ANet can produce a infinite amount of GW2 access for free because of the nature of software industry. People who gets to play the game free wouldn’t have purchased the game anyway and ANet will make money even if a small % of these players ever bought gems or even indirectly influence another to purchase gem.
Um… this is a stupid idea. The game only costs initial purchase and that is a huge source of income for ArenaNet.
The current system is far superior to free-to-play and supports the continued development of the game.
It WAS a huge source of income to ANet. Not anymore because the sales of box have long since reached its peak and now only serve as a obstacle to recurit new players. I would imagine the majority of “continued” revenue comes from the gem store, so expanding that to more players would be a smart business decision.
I hope this never happens
and your reason?
While I can’t speak for him, I don’t want them because large-scale Free to Play games have the worst communities, and the bigger the game gets the more abusive the community becomes.
This is a MMORPG tho, a large community is to be expected and desired. Theres plenty of tools available to decide who and if you want to interact with others. So this shouldn’t really be a problem at all.
I also hope this will never happen. If they remove the money gains from the box purchases, they will have to compensate through the item shop. The last thing I want in GW2 is a greedy item shop like all those trash F2P games have.
Who says the item in the gem store need to be like other F2P games? Our current gem store should suffice. ANet will not need to get compensation from the new players because they wouldn’t have bought the game in the first place and any money they earn through the gem store would be extra.
I hope this never happens
and your reason?
This game should go free 2 play. Just give everyone who purchased the game $60-70 worth of gem. Everyone wins.
Anyone who plans on buying the game had already done so, Anet will get more sales from gem store. Us players will experience a increase in player activity and will solve the problem with low-mid level zones being empty. And of course, new players will get to experience this game without purchasing it.
Everyone benefits from this. Thoughts?
You guys are in denial if you don’t believe that this games social aspect is horrific.
Barely, the world is too small, too much bots,economy is terrible, too much bugs, not much to do for pve. Oh and the social aspect of this game is almost non existent.
You argument is fundamentally flawed.
First of all, the gem/gold exchange rates are set, at least in part, by players rather than by ArenaNet. Currently the exchange rate heavily favors gold-to-gems because the demand for gold is much higher than the demand for gems. People want gold, they want it now, and they’re willing to pay pretty steep rates for it, and so the value of gems falls off. If players wanted gems more than gold – which they really, really don’t right now – then the exchange would favor gem-to-gold conversions rather than gold-to-gems.
Secondly, gold sellers can set whatever prices they want for their ‘product’. Ten dollars for ten gold is simply a nice, easy conversion they can make which also happens to seriously undercut the Currency Exchange. If the CE was at or near the 10g/$10 rate, the gold sellers would just up it to 20 gold for ten bucks. They can do that because they can generate gold at rates a legitimate player could never match, and the CE rates are driven by legitimate players. Nor do they care about things like the EULA (obviously) or the well-being of their fellow players (who can’t get junk-all done with their illicit gold if their zone is overrun with bots).
No, ArenaNet can’t undercut, or even realistically match, the gold sellers.
No, Gold sellers can’t just pump out unlimited amount of supply. Their supply is constant, meaning they can get no more gold unless they add more resource into it. By making 20g = $10, they effectively cut their revenue in half. Also, how does it make any logical sense when they ANet said they want to combat gold sellers with the excha ge system then make the exchange rates for favorable from gold to gem rather than gem to gold?
So you want to make gold worthless. Great idea.
No, I want to make it worth less. It does not directly impact you what the value of gold is in real dollars unless you wish to sell them. It will affect you only when you exchange gold to gem. Any logical person should agree that the current gold to gem rate is too generous. This is coming from a player who never bought gems and had gotten thousands of gem by only spending a couple gold, which is absurd.
Whatever happened to actually supporting the company? It isn’t Anet’s fault goldsellers exists, they have existed long before then and they always try undercutting official sources.
Supporting the company is good. However, what I’m proposing will actually support the company more than right now beacuse it place a higher value on gems, the currency that ANet is offering you for your money, which will tempt more people to use official source. As a direct result of this, more people will support the company, people who supports them get a fairer deal, and everyone gets less spam and hacked accounts while the gold sellers lose money. So it’s win win(except for gold sellers).
And gold sellers will drop the price of gold. Anet’s not going to beat the price gold sellers can sell gold at.
Yes, by dropping the price, they effectively earn less because supply remain constant. There goes a point in which it is simply not worth their time selling gold.
(edited by Sky.7610)
Hackers,Bots,Gold Sellers,Mail Spams exist because of Anet miscalculation of the Gem —> gold exchange rate.
Before you guys crucify me, please actually read what i’m saying and think if what i’m saying is reasonable and logical.
Hackers,Bots,mail spams,gold sellers,etc exist because of 1 very simple reason. That is because there is a market for gold selling, and people ARE and WILL continue to buy gold because of a fundamental logic error made by Anet. As long as there’s a demand for gold, these annoyance will continue to exist so long as its PROFITABLE.
Gold to Gem and Gem to Gold can be exchanged. Supposedly, the purpose of why there’s a real-time exchange system was to discourage gold sellers, not only did it fail at accomplishing this task, it have actually done the opposite, which is to ENCOURAGE gold selling because it had effectively solidify the value of gold. One of the main reason why it failed and done the opposite of what it was intended was because of how the exchange rate works.
Current exchange system:
Gold —> Gem 100% value return
Gem --> Gold 75% value return
Offical source: 800 Gems = $10
Gold selling companies: 1G = $1, 10G = $10
1G = 250Gems(approx) x 10 = 2500Gems (unoffical source wins by over 300%)
100gems = 28s(approx) x 8 = 2.24g ($10)
Unoffical source: 10g (win by over 450%) ($10)
Of course people are buying gold!
Proposed system:
Gold —> gem 75% value return
Gem --> gold 125% value return
It will by no means stop gold selling but it will certainly discourage it rather than encourage it, which is a step in the right direction. It will also devalue gold, which makes it less profitable to sell.
Is it just me or does the game’s loading time (when you enter the world with your selected character) increase like 4x of that since the beta?
Wow is still alive and kicking it’s not killed. In fact it’s doing better than GW2, a lot better. Just saying.
I just completed a path on CM Explorable mode, first time today(for the first time ever too) and only received 7tokens at the end(it only dropped in the end for me). Wasn’t I suppose to get like 60-80 tokens?
Also, the run took over 1 hour.
I’m curious to see how much gold you guys have managed to accumulate after 1 month since the release of the game, and what the average wealth is.
I managed to save to14g again (was hacked onced, about 20g worth stolen ).
So, how rich are you?
I just read through some dev responses, and botting was one thing that was mentioned but ‘we are dealing with more important things first.’
I have to say, the dozens of botters I have seen, the numerous reports, the many videos posted showing hacking and botting going on at the same time, across all servers, is ridiculous. These folks aren’t just botting, they’re selling gold outside the TP, and flooding the TP with items. The psychological hit to many players who see these botters and who realize they are ‘missing out’ on tons of gold that they could have otherwise if they started up a botting program themselves while they sleep is pretty bad. The long-term inflation and large-scale third party gold selling also damages the economy and playerbase as a whole.
So not sure how this is not one of the top priorities checked every single day.
Maybe it’s not ‘the most urgent thing to fix’ right now, and I assure you I am very much accepting that there will always be bots, but the lack of having a single employee go around each server to the common botting spots and /ban all the folks who are doing it – easily doable in a single work day – is discouraging. I don’t mind weapon clipping, or any of the other bugs, but blatantly allowing botters and now telling them ‘ehhh not a priority keep on botting, hope you make it profitable enough before we ban you’ is not good.
Probably the worst thing is the immersion lost from seeing players every day teleporting around and botting. I’m surprised that at this level of lack of attention, there’s not more people using it in WvW.
Even if you’re working on it, allowing it to happen long enough to ‘make it profitable’ for them is too long. Security should always be a top priority.
Let me make it clear that i agree that botters need to be handle with but i do not agree with whats being said.
1. How do you know they are botters?
2. How does these botters affect your gameplay? Economically, they should not have any noticeable impact on your ability to accumulate wealth since all botters combine probably will not even account for 1% of the global wealth.
3. psychological impact… really? Do you feel bad that you missed out on your ability to generate easy money by selling illegal drugs?
Except the pharmacy then claims that they are promoting safe and accessible drugs and discourage the “street drugs” then they raise the price of their drugs.
It doesnt make sense logically and is an insult to a reasonable mind that if the purpose of the gem exchange was to combat gold seller by competing with them in price, that the exchange rate would favor the buyer, rather than the seller.
What I’m referring to is the black lion trading company currency exchange system. I’m pretty surprise this wasnt brought up or addressed…
Even before the game was released, Arenanet said that one of the primary reason to such a system was to combat gold sellers. That sounds great but if that statement is true, why does the buyer of gem in the currency exchange get the better deal and not the seller of gems? The people who’s spending money to get gem to convert to gold would be more tempted to buy gold than gem. Shouldn’t the buy and sell gem prices be reversed?
Btw, I never bought gem, and only have exchanged gold for gems.
The ‘flipping’ terminology has me a tad interested too, care to expand a little please Knuckle?
It basically means buy low sell high. Do take the 15% fee into account. If you think about it, every time you profit by “flipping” the economy lost 15% of that money forever.
Also, dont undercut me, kthxbai.
I was not as lucky as you. They login into my account management and change the email(username) without confirmation from my email.
Its very funny how you need email confirmation to login into the game but you don’t to steal the entire account.
My account was hacked and all of my stuff was stolen
in Account & Technical Support
Posted by: Sky.7610
I had it worst. My account too was hacked. about 20gold worth was stolen(which was everything). Luckily, I know how to go from poor —> rich, and made 6g the first day i got it back.
We dont have a sent message tab, so you cant recover them as they never existed.
Also, im sure they do have a tracking log but the fact that they don’t have the technical ability to restore account yet(not even proper restore mind you, merely a entire account rollback) make me have doubts. Even if they do, it is unlikely they will have the man power to look into them considering i waited for a week to get my account back and it was considered “top priority”.
There is no buy order listing fee. You will get the full sum back. I promise.