Guild Wars 2

We’re already having debates in the Living World forums.

somsom.5201:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

somsom.5201:

Each season is ~$60…

Each season is free. If you miss previous seasons, and wish to access it, it doesn’t cost money. Just exchange Gold for Gems, and you get it for zero (0) dollars.

You’re welcome.

Free? hardly.

How does a new player get $60 worth of gold? That’s what I thought. Don’t be facetious.

The new player can play the game, earn Gold normally, and go back and enjoy content they missed. Again, it costs zero (0) dollars.

I’m glad I’m able to help you understand this concept.

Mad Queen Malafide.7512:

How about just having these sort of rewards earn-able with in-game accomplishments, rather than locking everything behind RNG?

It’s so tiresome to have these items with an insanely low drop rate. Who enjoys that? And on top of that, the game is currently already lacking in rewards and good loot as it is.

GW1 veterans will recall this as the mini polarbear syndrome. It’s a dreadful course for the designers to follow.

Because without RNG, rewards would all become common as dirt. No prestige. No desire to have. So once you take away the desire to have the reward, you take away the desire to do the content that gives the reward.

somsom.5201:

Each season is ~$60…

Each season is free. If you miss previous seasons, and wish to access it, it doesn’t cost money. Just exchange Gold for Gems, and you get it for zero (0) dollars.

You’re welcome.

All the complainers are forgetting a key mechanic that makes this debate invalid. Since you can exchange in-game Gold for Gems, you don’t have to pay a single cent for content. Zero (0).

I haven’t tested this yet, but don’t you lose any buffs on you when you enter SPvP?

It appears that a lot of players don’t understand that they’re making a choice to do something, and then complaining about the choice they made. I’ll try to give a simple example in hopes they understand.

Say you have three (3) quests that you can pick from. You can only do one at a time:

Quest A – Epic adventure that’s fun and challenging, and gives everyone the same reward.
Quest B – Mindless grinding for Champ bags. Mostly boring because of the repetitive nature of farming, but highly profitable for the items you can sell.
Quest C- Sit idle in town while playing the market, not experiencing content provided by an MMO. Researching trends and risking personal wealth in order to make a profit. Chance to lose a lot of money, or make a lot of money.

Here’s what happens with each quest:

Quest A – Everyone has fun, but doesn’t care for the reward. It’s a nice reward, but since it’s so common, people complain that the content wasn’t “rewarding enough”.

Quest B – After 5 hours of continuous farming, your bags are filled with loot. You just wasted away a good chunk of your day being bored, but made some money after selling T6 mats and Exotics to other players.

Quest C (path 1) – You just lost thousands of Gold because your speculations were wrong. A normal player in this situation would probably uninstall due to the shock.

Quest C (path 2) – You just made hundreds of Gold flipping items for a 20% profit. Other players are jealous of your success, and call you a manipulator. You feel bad that no one likes you, and pass the time arranging stacks of Ecto to spell words in your bank.

Summary – You can choose to do Quest A for fun, and then Quest B for loot. Alternate between the two, and you can have fun and make money while playing. Quest C takes skill, so not everyone can do this. But that doesn’t prevent you from trying to learn.

Dragonites are too common. I get a stack or 2 per day. What they need to do is buff Empyreals, because I’m lacking in those.

This game doesn’t require grinding to have fun. It’s the individual player’s desires to get certain things that drive one to grind. Once you understand this, most of what you typed will be resolved.

Tamasan.6457:

This is not true. You’re competing with a lot of other people also trying to buy the same thing you want. If what you’re doing earns gold significantly slower than activity A, and there’s a bunch of people doing activity A, then activity B won’t get you ahead if it gets you much less gold. In economic terms it’s called opportunity cost, and its a really important concept.

If activity A provides you with a lot of Gold earning opportunities, and activity B does not, then it’s the players fault for choosing to do B over A. Mind you that this only applies if the main purpose of doing either activity is to make money. If you choose to do activity B because it’s more fun than A, then you’re making the conscious decision to miss out on making Gold. At that point, since you made the choice, you can’t complain.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Sure, a precursor can drop from anywhere but with a drop rate of 0.00000000001% or whatever it is what’s the point? Nobody goes to farm Orr thinking they’ll ever get that drop. I’d rather take specific encounters for specific rewards with sensible drop rates. Then we can have some ultra rare world drops on the side. I’m just opposed to it being the main method of acquisition.

GW2 currently has all that in place. There are specific rewards for doing specific LS events (i.e. non-RNG like Watchwork Shoulder or RNG like Scarlet’s Kiss rifle). There are dungeon weapons and armor for specific dungeon tokens, or from SPvP reward tracks. There are rare unique weapon and armor boxes for Teq and the Great Wurm. Then you have ultra rare items like Precursors that can drop from nearly everything at max level.

Some of these items are Account Bound on acquire, so you can’t trade them. Some are not bound, so you can choose to use them, or sell them on the market. So just because there’s a reward that you don’t care for (i.e. CoF weapons and armors), doesn’t mean that the reward methods you’re asking for isn’t already in the game.

Rauderi.8706:

Vol.7601:

To me, the forge serves only one purpose – to acquire precursors. No one in their right mind would gamble on the forge for the purposes of finding named exotics.

So I don’t see an increase in named exotics to be of an improvement that Anet would advertise.

The improvements I expected (or still expect) is a way to help balance the RNG aspect of precursors.

For example, for every combination ‘failure’ (no precursor received), you get a token. At a certain # of tokens – let’s say 1000, you can change that in for a guaranteed precursor.

That way, people who are unlucky enough to go on cold streaks end up getting a precursor.

I’ve been saying this in a few other threads, too. Four stacks of 250 precursor tokens = 1 precursor. Make it happen, ANet.

How about forge 4 stacks of 250 tokens… to get 1 random Precursor?

Mounts will fix all the economy woes!

Fungalfoot.7213:

Yeah, I remember farming gold to buy my awesomeness in EverQuest as well as World of Warcraft.

Oh wait that never happened. I actually had to go out and do all this hard content to earn my prestige. If only I had been able to flip my way to success…

I’ve never played those two games before. Was in-game currency that useless? If so, what’s the point in playing if there’s no money system?

Is GoM the new BG?

Naglifar.1684:

clearly the drop rate is still too low to stabilize the demand/availability. I suspect nothing has changed with regards to OP’s concerts, (its just happening at 1/3 the scale it was before).

Using made up numbers here*

If you double the drop rate of an item that was 0.1%, it’s still low. Rare items remain rare, but just not “as rare” as before. The point of the update wasn’t to satisfy all players who demanded this item. It was to make it so something that was meant to be rare, wasn’t too rare where it barely existed.

cbigsby.4098:

well with today’s update you can now effectively sell anything at any price that you want. Just list it at what you think is the proper price and it will sell to the highest buy order and the buyer will be refunded the difference.

This is a win win situation cause the OP can now sell at any price he deems correct and he can finally let this thread die, and everyone else can go back to not caring that much about undercutting in a free market

Actually, the OP wanted the power to decide which Buy Order to sell to. By selling an item at a price below what the current highest Buy Order is, he’s just selling it to the high offer, and the buyer is getting a refund. And when he does this, the buyer will get a super deal on an item, and can then flip it back on the TP for even more profit.

Fungalfoot.7213:

That said, when I talk about special I mean something like the journey to a legendary back in EverQuest or obtaining Carsomyr in Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Heck, even World of WarCraft had some really rare items back in the day which required you to go through lengthy quests. Now that warranted admiration.

I remember when The Foundry in GW1 came out, and we did a 16 hour run to get the bonus Titan Gems at the end. My guild was proud of what we did, as we were racing to be the first to get Tormented weapons. Then, everyone and their dog had them. The special feeling went away because the rare item wasn’t so rare anymore.

So even if you have an epic adventure to complete a quest and get a unique reward, all of the good feelings end when you realize that the unique rewards became common. Then you just move on to the next epic adventure. The carrot on the stick moved. What I want is for a carrot to be so hard to get, that some people may never get it at all.

Duke Nukem.6783:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Unbiased does not equate apathy towards changes that have no impact.

you have no buisness assuming this will have no impact, you do not have all the answers and should not speak with such certainty here.

When an expert says these will have no impact, we’re not assuming. We know.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Paying a high price for a limited edition Murakami Louis Vuitton bag that no one else in your city has, doesn’t cheapen it. Just as paying 2500 Gold for an item from the TP that’s ultra rare. It’s a status symbol that shows you own something that very few have. Whether you found it or paid for it, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you own it.

But that is no longer about being special. That’s just about flaunting affluence. Unless you sincerely believe that having a lot of money somehow makes you a more interesting and special person?

And at the end of the day it’s just a bag. There is no story to it and it has no real meaning beyond the price tag somebody slapped on it. It’s not like you beat down the doors of a vampire castle and staked its master for it or anything. It’s just a bag. A bag you bought.

Yawn.

I could say the same when my group did all the work to take down the Great Wurm, and the pug who got in a few tags shares the title. Or how I finally got my Liadri mini and title for beating her legitimately, yet exploiters who spammed lifesteal got the same.

At the end of the day, yes it’s an item that you bought. But it’s also an item that a lot of other people doesn’t have. Not that it would make me an interesting person. But it would make me a special one, since people would be jealous of my stuff when I show it off.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

You can have your adventure, but let me have my snowflake. Part of the issue is that you want both your adventure and my snowflake. When there’s too many snowflakes around, it just becomes common snow that no one cares about.

And therein lies the issue. The adventure has been separated from the treasure chest at the end. Just imagine playing Legend of Zelda and finding nothing but rupees in every single big chest. Just rupees and rupees all the time. Rescue the princess? Woohoo, here’s some rupees! That’s Guild Wars 2. Just about everything of consequence is tied to gold and just about everything we do we do for the sake of acquiring gold. Not even PvP has been spared.

Quest and reward is a sacred bond. It shouldn’t be quest so you can make gold and then buy your reward from a middle man on the trading post. That’s exactly what makes things feel less special. There isn’t much of a story to tell when you farmed gold like every other sucker to buy your sword of annihilation +10. It cheapens it.

Paying a high price for a limited edition Murakami Louis Vuitton bag that no one else in your city has, doesn’t cheapen it. Just as paying 2500 Gold for an item from the TP that’s ultra rare. It’s a status symbol that shows you own something that very few have. Whether you found it or paid for it, it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you own it.

Tamasan.6457:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

When there’s too many snowflakes around, it just becomes common snow that no one cares about.

I don’t accept your assertion. Some of the best looking and most memorable characters I’ve seen aren’t using super rare skins or expensive dyes, but finding lesser used skins in different combinations with a coherent color scheme. I don’t claim to be the least bit artistic myself, but I can certainly appreciate what those players have created.

If you want rarity for rarity’s sake, I don’t suggest playing an MMO with 4+ million other people.

Rarity exists, even in MMOs. It’s fine that you think someone looks good for using a less used skin in a different combination. But if lots of people copied the same look, then it wouldn’t matter. On the other hand, you can’t copy a look that very few people have.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

What if we want to be special snowflakes that get to show off an ultra rare item?

I’m not sure why you’d take pride in an item gained through RNG or gold farming to tell you the truth. A legendary in this game means absolutely nothing as it’s just a heap of gold. I’ve been here since the start and as such do have a lot of the rarer skins but I feel no attachment to any of them due to the way I acquired them and that’s the issue with this game as a whole for me at least.

Progressing towards these rarities should be a great adventure in itself. It should be about more than just sitting in the hub and flipping on the trading post or opening lockboxes hoping to eventually luck out. Is it too much to hope for a bit of adventure here?

You can have your adventure, but let me have my snowflake. Part of the issue is that you want both your adventure and my snowflake. When there’s too many snowflakes around, it just becomes common snow that no one cares about.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Engaging in scamming people and abusing trust is something you willingly commit to, not a fact of life.

Good on ANet for the change but again it just shows how messed up things are. We just had an item go from being valued at over two thousand gold to a mere hundred. While I understand the allure of loot manipulation and market control all too well I’d suggest learning from Blizzard’s treatment of Diablo because your players will call you on this kitten every time. Have the drop rate be sensible from the start and then keep your mittens off it.

What if we want to be special snowflakes that get to show off an ultra rare item?

I’m open minded enough to admit when there’s a problem. However, the complainers currently have not proved any problems exist, beyond their own personal preferences are not being met. John has challenged each and every one of them to come forward with a compelling argument against the system. Since then, we’ve had none.

orenwolf.1953:

That, to me, is the only argument I can see for setting lower prices. What if you have 100 items to sell, only 90 buy orders at your price, but you want to sell all 100 right now? Then you have to list multiple times. This becomes worse if, say, there’s only a handful of buyers at each price point – you end up having to put in a LOT of listings to sell your stack.

But in a trading post where you can’t see the name of a seller, there’s no benefit otherwise to selling below a buy order.

If there are only 90 Buy Orders, there’s nothing you can do to sell 100 items right away. You need to wait for the 10 extra to be bought, or sell them to a merchant. Those are your only choices.

Now as for selling below a Buy Order, that does nothing but help TP flippers make more money. If my Buy Order is currently the highest, and someone sells the item below my price, my order is filled first, and I also get a refund of the difference.

Evon Skyfyre.9673:

As I said, there are some glimpses of how it was in GW 1. I was really inspired by a video I watched yesterday about the origin of Taimi, then I read today what can be sifted down to quoting Gordon Geko in Wallstreet (Movie) “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works…”.

I’m out, no one cares anyway.

I was greedy in GW1, just as I am in GW2. I parked myself in Kamadan for hours spamming WTS and WTB, flipping anything I could get my hands on. Someone selling a Mini Dhuum for 700 Ecto? I’d undercut him by shouting one for 650 E. When he dropped his price down to ~600 E after fighting with me, I’d buy his with my second account, and resell it a hour later for 700.

Tis life.

Rouven.7409:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Rouven.7409:

Who would you ask if there is a problem with a certain system, the innocent child, or the one who profits from said system?

To be intelligent or proficient at something is one thing, to be objective or as objective as a human being can be, is another.

Let’s just agree that each party (pro-/anti-TP) has it’s own bias.

Actually, if you word your question like the following, you’ll have your answer:

Who would you ask if there is a problem with a certain system, the person who doesn’t understand the system, or the person who does?

No, you are missing the point – in this context it very simply is who can you trust?

Let’s say you would buy a used car – you bring your own specialist. Same with a house, you don’t trust your realtor.

So no, I don’t accept your argument TP Barons versus “innocent children/normal people” in regards to posts on the forum.

Edit: Not saying the reverse is better either, which is why I said “let’s agree we all have our bias” – or just take the forums with a grain of salt.

In your example, the person buying the car would be the one who didn’t know anything, and the person selling the car is the expert. If you don’t trust yourself or the car salesman, then you’d want to bring in an independent 3rd party who doesn’t profit from the sale, which would be the specialist (i.e. John Smith).

If if you as the car buyer(common man) doesn’t trust the car salesman (TP Barons), then you ask the specialist (John Smith) if there’s a problem. If the specialist says there’s no problem, then you can trust him based on his expertise.

Vol.7601:

tolunart.2095:

Get ready for the “I didn’t get any, so how can they say the drop rate was increased?” complaints.

Don’t you mean the,

“I paid 2500g for this recipe and now you nerf it so that it’s so common? $%@^#$ Anet!!!!”

complaints?

The update and the market crashed while I was at work. I seriously need to change my schedule to working nites, so I don’t miss important updates like this.

Rouven.7409:

Who would you ask if there is a problem with a certain system, the innocent child, or the one who profits from said system?

To be intelligent or proficient at something is one thing, to be objective or as objective as a human being can be, is another.

Let’s just agree that each party (pro-/anti-TP) has it’s own bias.

Actually, if you word your question like the following, you’ll have your answer:

Who would you ask if there is a problem with a certain system, the person who doesn’t understand the system, or the person who does?

Duke Nukem.6783:

Wanze.8410:

Duke Nukem.6783:

Wanze.8410:

Duke Nukem.6783:

Obtena.7952:

Here is a reason: Waste of resources to implement a solution to a non-problem.

see comment 5 on my long post on this page (false inference).

and lets stop saying its not a problem, as you can see from thousands of posts throughout this section of the problem , many people DO find it to be a problem, and so it is a problem and thats a fact.

Your proposal is a false inference to begin with. Those thousands of people simply do not existand did not post in this section expressing their feeling to buy a more expensive listing.

haha no, they absolutly exist and people HAVE made threads on this before and people DO complain about it in game. stop trying to undermine the issue by saying it isnt an issue, its an issue to me and u need to respect that

I just checked all 4 pages in this topic and not a SINGLE poster, apart from you, agreed with you that its a good idea in general and thought that Anet should spend any resources on implementing it.
This might be an issue for you but if you think that the mayority of players wants to see this, you´re dillusional.

i see plenty of people on these 4 pages suggesting SOME kind of change, some are suggesting a minimum change required for undercutting instead but atleast they admit SOMETHING is wrong.

its also important to notice that this is the forum where the TP barons hang out not the common man. so the opinion we see here is unrepresentative of the majority of the game….but im sure some of the posters here would like to forget that =)

The TP Barons are the experts who understand how the economy works. Thus, if they don’t see a problem, there isn’t one. As with my analogy, who would you believe more when asking a science question – an innocent child (common man), or the experienced scientist (TP Baron)?

Again, nothing is wrong. The mistake you’re making is that you only perceive there to be a problem, but one that doesn’t exist. Sort of like how children believe there’s a Santa Claus, when in fact it’s their parents buying their Christmas presents.

pdavis.8031:

It would appear that the OP has gotten what he has asked for.

Trading Post
•The listing fee can no longer be avoided by listing an item at a lower price than the highest buy order. Items priced lower than an existing highest buy order will now be sold at the lower price. The player with the highest buy order will receive the item and be refunded any difference in price.

In todays patch notes. Grats!

Actually, it’s to fix an exploit that we’ve known about for some time, but weren’t allowed to talk about it. But at least now the OP can be happy to sell stuff for less than our Buy Order prices. That makes flipping so much more profitable for us traders.

Indeed. One of the Devs mentioned that it was 18 months in the making. Thus another reason why I’m now thinking Cantha was withheld so long. If they release an Asian themed expansion after China GW2 hit the market, you’ll have a whole population of new players who will think that Anet did it just for them. That “feel good” feeling can go a long way in terms of loyalty. Business-wise, it’s a good psychological tactic, as increased loyalty can lead to increased microtransactions.

Realize that sometimes a player will craft an inscription by mistake, and will wish to unload it on the TP rather than use it. And depending on the price, some players may intentionally craft inscriptions on the idea that they can profit from it. Heck, I already made my Ascended weapons and armor, and I might have roughly 80 Dark Matter left. If I won’t be using them, I have the option of getting rid of them for some money.

One more thing, if players didn’t post these inscriptions in the first place, you wouldn’t be able to use your Gold to buy them. So consider yourself lucky that you can bypass the Ascended material gates that’s in place.

Devata.6589:

Yeah I understand the reasons they do it this way is to use it as a cash-cow. Mainly also because it’s less risky then the expansion-based model.

Still I do think an expansion every year would also get them back in the news every year.

Releasing a game later after letting it’s quality drop because of what they are doing now will also mean they do not get as many people back as if they would have kept the quality high.

However I don’t purely look from an investors point who likely prefers to make money as low-risk possible as fast as possible and is less interested in the long term because he simply switches to the next product.
I also look at it from my (consumer) perspective who wants a high quality product with a long life-spawn.

Still for a investor willing to have a little higher risk but with a bigger reward on the longer-term I do think the expansion-based model would also benefit them the most.

If you look at it the other way, delaying expansions is a way to increase the lifespan of the product. While the current GW2 you’ve been playing might not appeal to you as it did 2 years ago, it’s still popular (judging from the sales figures from NCSoft). If you brought out highly popular new content, including new open world maps, of course they’ll see a bump in their sales. But couple that with a currently popular game, and the sales bumps wouldn’t be as large. Then you have the question of how long the new expansion content will last. Remember, most hard core players got to end game within the first month. We ate up GW2 for all it’s worth, and then everything since has been seeking out the small details we missed along the way (i.e. dungeon paths, dynamic events, etc).

Now take an expansion, and release it later when sales start to decline. You have an instant spike in sales, and add some years to the lifespan of the game. Now there’s more content to do, and people will flock back to play the game again. It’s like a brand new game was released, without having to develop a new game engine.

Releasing an expansion like this wouldn’t be so great for players, as we all want new content here and now. But it makes perfect business sense in terms of longevity and sales. With that in mind, I’m more forgiving that we haven’t had our Cantha fix yet.

Devata.6589:

~~~ snip ~~~

Been reading your posts, and feel the need to add some thoughts.

NCSoft’s goals, as with most any other publicly traded company, is to make as much money as possible for their shareholders. Sure selling expansions would be enough to pay for future content. That’s basically want the Living Story was – an expansion’s worth of content given for free. But the reality of this is that you have a highly successful business plan that requires no changes. The microtransaction shop has been doing great with new Gem Store items related to LS content. Because GW2 is the #2 moneymaker for NCSoft, it makes sense to milk the cash cow for as much as possible if the current strategy is working.

As sales from the microtransaction store declines, that’s when you’ll see a shift in the strategy. New content or bringing back popular content is a way to increase player activity. Releasing new expansion content is an even better way. So right now, I’m theorizing that NCSoft is holding back on any expansion type releases until they need a boost to their sales numbers. Releasing the expansion content while sales are up wouldn’t make sense (from a business perspective). The hype would be drowned out by current popularity of the game. But if you wait a while before releasing the expansion, and time the release right, you get your name back in the news.

Wanze.8410:

But he wants to be ripped off.

That means the TP is protecting him from himself.

Stark.1350:

OP has been posting for months on the forums with nothing but negativity.

Actually, it’s been about 14 months.

LordByron.8369:

What exactly is going smooth?

Runes?
Sigils?
precursors?
Rare recipes?
rare skins?

What exactly?
those thousands of White/blue/green leather items?

How much longer can you still pretend economy is great just throwing random baseless statements?

What about doing something for the lack of supply for once?
Do you think is bad damaging greedy manipulations putting finally some REAL risk in this broken economy (only for excess)?

Please see the following:

John Smith.4610:

While nothing is 100% perfect, the large majority of every part of the game’s economy runs incredibly efficiently and we put a lot of effort into making sure that they remain that way.

Atmosphere.1394:

The one thing that upsets me in all of this, is that I am an avid mesmer player and to think we are getting the shaft on a backpiece that easily caters to us, is disappointing. I refuse to spend thousands of gold for an item I feel should be acquired as easily as Light of Dwayna or Shadow of Grenth. Even Balthazar is fairly simple. A slight grind, but a grind you can still do nonetheless. I hope that ArenaNet -actually- addresses this issue directly and explain why mesmers are getting screwed over on their backpiece.

Because we’re not entitled to get everything we want?

jazzllanna.1278:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

skullmount.1758:

That can be said about anything sold/bought on the TP. It can go both ways. What about those that sold precursors for cheap? Should they be re-compensated? What about the revers, those that got to sell them for high prices before they dropped in price due to karka event? Its the same in the real world. Just look at the prices for new electronics. There are always those that spend more than others, just to have one at the time. This doesn’t mean everyone has to pay that price. Stop trying to cause exclusive items for only the rich top 1% of the players.

Actually, it’s not an exclusive item. It’s an extremely rare one that’s tradable between players. In my Gold BB group, two people had gotten them in different days, and they aren’t rich by any means. When we take breaks between runs, they opened their chance bags. One person got it on Friday, and one person got it on Saturday.

Edit – Well, at least one of them is rich now, since he sold it for the 2,000 Gold Buy Order.

Are they getting bags outside of the gauntlet? Does the downstairs event reward this?

No, from the bags from the Gauntlet.

Blude.6812:

More nerfs for sure.

Nerfs can be fun too! Esp. if they address the overpowered nature of Mesmers.

skullmount.1758:

That can be said about anything sold/bought on the TP. It can go both ways. What about those that sold precursors for cheap? Should they be re-compensated? What about the revers, those that got to sell them for high prices before they dropped in price due to karka event? Its the same in the real world. Just look at the prices for new electronics. There are always those that spend more than others, just to have one at the time. This doesn’t mean everyone has to pay that price. Stop trying to cause exclusive items for only the rich top 1% of the players.

Actually, it’s not an exclusive item. It’s an extremely rare one that’s tradable between players. In my Gold BB group, two people had gotten them in different days, and they aren’t rich by any means. When we take breaks between runs, they opened their chance bags. One person got it on Friday, and one person got it on Saturday.

Edit – Well, at least one of them is rich now, since he sold it for the 2,000 Gold Buy Order.

CaboSoul.1204:

I will not let this topic die. Make it drop guaranteed by exchanging 10000 festival tokens for it or something.

But that would mean it won’t be worth 1500 Gold after that. That would be unfair to those who purchased it and value it at that price.

Let me point out a couple of things John said. Perhaps you forgot:

John Smith.4610:

A couple of points to consider:
A Trading Post is not an Auction House and that is an intentional decision.
When a player posts a buy or sell order, that player is making a public statement. I am willing to pay this money or trade this item at this price. Those who offer the highest willingness to pay get matched first. I don’t see anything but market failures and weird scams coming from a system that allows arbitrary trading. Our system now works quickly and efficiently and gives (virtually) everyone what they’re asking for.
This system was not designed intentionally to enhance the quantity of gold sunk, that’s simply a byproduct of an efficient market.

John Smith.4610:

I think you may misunderstand how the system works again. I recommend you go to gw2Spidy and look at some of the charts over time. Also take a little bit of time to look at how the trading post really works and then reformulate your problem. I’m happy to answer any questions you might have.

VideoGamermike.5813:

~~~ snip ~~~

What it all comes down to is competition between Buyers. If there are 10,000 potential Buyers for Item X, with an average Buy Order of 7 Gold, but there are one or two who are willing to pay 10 Gold just to get Item X right away, the market will sell at that price at that moment in time.

So as you can see, the market works. The Seller gets more money for Item X, and the Buyer get it before everyone else. It’s efficient and effective. Both parties are happy.

kuittaa.7360:

If that is not an option, you can always go to Lion’s Arch, or other in-game hub and do good old map-chat advertising of the goods you want to sell for the price you’ve set.

No dude, don’t recommend that. I report anyone I see with “WTS/WTB” Map Chat spams. If people want to do that in their Guild Chat between their friends, that’s fine.

tolunart.2095:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

If feel strongly against this, simply sell the item to a merchant, and that will save you from moral headaches.

Or just send it to me. I’ll be happy to take it off your hands for nothing, and you can feel all warm and fuzzy about it.

I offered an explanation a few minutes before you did, so I should be ahead of you in the queue for any free giveaways. That would be the morally right thing.

You can apply to join TTS. They’re a great group of people who kill Teq daily on multiple servers.

To add to Behellagh’s explaination:

In order for a buyer to post a Buy Offer, they put up the money in advance. So let’s say I want Item X, and I’m offering 10 Gold for it. The money is already paid, and the TP is holding it until my order is filled. So now you come along, and have Item X for sale. Your morals tell you that it’s only worth 7 Gold, and you wish to list it for such. But, since I’ve already put 10 Gold down, and I’m currently the highest “bidder”, the system sets the lowest price you can sell it for as my price. I’m not allowed to get a refund of 3 Gold, simply because you want to sell it for less than my price. I’ve paid in advance already. The TP took my money, and is reserving that for whomever sells it first.

So what you have to do is now choose to either wait for all Buy Orders to be filled before you sell your item, or just take my money and be done with it. To be honest, if someone is offering to pay X amount more than what you want for it, that would be a fair price. If feel strongly against this, simply sell the item to a merchant, and that will save you from moral headaches.

Duke Nukem.6783:

that doesnt explain why u feel the need to argue AGAINST it, ur statement implies neutrality, ur actions are anything but neutral. why dont u come up with a reason for me, can u do that?

I’ll use a real world example to describe the up-hill battle you’re trying to fight.

An elementary aged child speaking with a scientist about the time it takes for the light of the sun to reach the Earth. The scientist studied the topic at hand, and has the formulas to tell you that it takes a little over 8 minutes. The child says that it doesn’t, because when he look up, the light is already there. The child thinks he’s right, because his perception is that the sun’s light instantly reaches the Earth.

So basically, you have Black Lion Trading Post experts all telling you that there’s currently no problem with the TP as it is now. The mistake you’re making is that you’re taking your own, personal preferences, and subconsciously manifesting them into “perceived problems” with in-game mechanics. Like a child who doesn’t understand the science of light travel, you’re looking at something, and attributing false facts as the reality of how you understand the TP.