Guild Wars 2

Leamas.5803:

sirsquishy.8531:

Etien.4601:

The answer is that a year ago or so there was a patch tha buffed the chest loot from dungeons. I remember because of that all were lfg in front of each one. And the drop was good. Exotic and rare items almost often. Obviously it was too much and got stealth nerfed as usual.
and don’t even get me started on fractal loot.

there is only 2 answers why they did that.

1. to stop gold inflation
2. to promote more gem sales to convert to gold.

I feel it was more to prohibit Gold Inflation.

But by limiting the stock too much, they’re causing massive price inflation on what’s already there. If they really wanted to control gold inflation they would kill the gem to gold conversion as a start. Another huge problem is the vendoring of items. Both create massive amounts of gold out of thin air and there simply are not enough gold sinks in the game (Or people have become bitter over those that do exist, such as the MF) as people sit on huge mounds of gold watching prices in the gem store inflate out of control as a result. Too much gold is already flowing in to the economy and not enough stock is flowing in to the TP to keep the prices down.

From a player perspective, one of the worst things that happened in this game is when they killed all the bots. The bots were bad for other reasons, hacked accounts and the such. But from a regular player perspective, bots kept prices down on the TP which was generally good for a majority of players. That said, the bots were putting so much in the TP that it was keeping prices down to a level that was casual friendly, but of course the hardcore burned through stuff like mad. Keep in mind, the game was advertized specifically to the casual player.

In the short, the economy is out of balance and there is no easy or good solution to fix it.

It is an incorrect assumption that this game is marketed “specifically to the casual player”. This game is marketed towards everybody.

The second incorrect assumption is that high TP prices are bad for players. This is a one-sided statement. High prices are bad for buyers, but good for sellers. If anything, this is better for casual players. What type of players buy from the tp? Players who need massive quantities of rare materials (lodestones, T6’s, etc.) for exclusive, high-end items such as legionaries, volcanus, immobulous, etc. These items are cosmetic only and are status/prestige items for HARDCORE players. So the high prices on the TP are bad for hardcore players. Casual players only need exotic or at most ascended gear to enjoy and participate in, and be competitive in every single aspect of the game. It is completely possible and reasonable to obtain the 30 T6’s you’ll need for a full set of exotic/ascended gear from drops alone (without having to buy from the TP). It’s even possible to craft a full set of ascended armor from drops alone, as I’ve crafted 2 full sets of ascended armor from drops and salvages, barely buying anything from the TP. The “casual player” will inevitably obtain more rare crafting materials then “needed”, allowing them to sell these items on the TP. The higher prices of TP items is therefore more beneficial for casual players than for hardcore players.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Melvin.3295:

I see your point about bach. I just hope new people who pick up an instrument from the gemstore don’t just think it is alright to macro any song since I’m sure it is the same thing as using a bot.

Honestly, I’m not sure, but I’m going to ask Customer Support about it. The fact is, we have a policy against automating gameplay through the use of macros or bots. But music? I just don’t know if the rules about third-party programs extend to non-game-related situations.

I currently do not use macros to play songs on my in-game instruments, because I thought that was a bannable offense. Please let me know if it’s allowed, because if it is, I will probably do it a lot more often (to get use out of my purchases, not to be petty and ask for in game donations), and I will probably purchase more instruments as well.

• Allow us to convert bloodstone dust, dragonite ore, and empharyl fragments to permanently boost account gold gain, exp gain, and karma gain (just like how luck from blues/greens can permanently increase magic find)
• Bring back weapon-set-specific claim tickets (e.g. fused weapon claim ticket, winters weapon claim ticket, jade weapon claim ticket) for every single black lion set, permanently purchasable for the same price (in BL weapon tickets) that the set is currently selling for
• Remove RNG from precursors and make them obtainable only from vendor purchase at 3000g a piece

Ensign.2189:

Wonderly.1324:

I (think) I understand at least part of your answer

There are two big ideas working in tandem. One is the economics of an item, how it is created, traded, and consumed in the game world; the other is the reward of the item, and how that affects the player experience. They are different ideas that need to draw on each other to deliver a good experience.

For example, look at the silk market. The silk market is working fine economically – supply is huge, but demand is also huge, an it’s maintaining a pretty steady price point that is reacting well to fundamentals. It’s doing great! From the perspective of rewards, silk isn’t in a great place – demand is huge, there aren’t effective ways to farm it, and the prices have surged to the point where it’s excluding people from the rewards that were designed for them.

In general to make the reward part work you also have to make the economic side work as well, otherwise it starts to break fairly quickly (see: other MMOs where their rewards get eaten by inflation, D3 getting devoured by deflation, etc). But getting the economics in order is no guarantee that the rewards are going to feel good. You have to consider both.

Thanks for the explanation, Ensign.
=)
So basically John Smith is saying that he can only comment on the economic side of those items, and on that end, things are working well. How very wise of him to comment only in the area he has unquestionable knowledge of, and to defer the “reward experience” to Izzy (in light of the growing dissatisfaction in forums in that area). At any rate, I’m satisfied to hear that the objective conclusion drawn from irrefutable data is that, at least economically, precursors and legendaries are serving their purposes. I wonder if that’s why they’ve delayed precursor crafting- because they don’t want to try and satisfy the “reward perspective” and accidentally break the economics side, and in doing so, lead to the eventual ruin of both. I’m a bit anxious about that too, to be honest, and I would much prefer to keep things as they are (objectively functioning economics, subjectively “broken” reward perspective) than to break both.

John Smith.4610:

Wonderly.1324:

John Smith.4610:

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Essence Snow.3194:

Is the economy designed around rewards or are rewards designed around the economy? (not talking about appearances ofc)

I’m not sure I entirely understand this question, could you elaborate?

What is the main consideration for the distribution (probability/requirements) of rewards? How it’ll effect the economy? How it’ll be perceived by the player base?

The designers and I discuss the changes, each time new content is released is a different story/plan/result.

Can you explain this for legendary weapons and precursors? Specifically, what purposes were these items meant to fulfill (in player perception, impact on the economy, or any other relevant areas). What are some examples of how the current system (RNG, tradeable on a player-driven market) succeeds in these items fulfilling their intended purposes? What are some areas in which these items fail to fulfill their intended purposes (or fulfill them poorly, or could be improved upon to better fulfill the intended purposes)?

I think this question would be better answered by Izzy. I tend to have a very macro biased view of legendary weapons, so they fulfill macro-economy values very nicely (great! right?). The current system is a great driver for end game resources and a great sink for those resources as well. That doesn’t mean it’s the best system, it just means it’s economically effective at the moment. I wouldn’t want to comment much beyond that without Izzy’s input.

Thanks for the reply, John! I’m a huge fan of your work and I’m super happy and honored that you’d take the time to read and respond to my question. I hope Izzy does give a response on his perspective, that’d be awesome!

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/my-legend-grows-forging-your-first-legendary-weapon/
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdA4MlrF5mA
were the only things I could find on his comments on the topic.

I (think) I understand at least part of your answer- I agree that precursors/legendaries are useful for motivating hardcore/dedicated players and for driving the economy, and that the current system allows them to do so nicely (though not perfectly). If these items were to made too accessible, then they would probably lose value as high end items.
I don’t understand the bit about them being a gold sink though. Please keep in mind I’m in the health sciences professions so I’m a complete n00b when it comes to economics. You probably feel the same way about that Extra Credits video as I do about The Magic School bus, but that’s probably where my level of understanding in this field is at. = p But yeah- applying what I learn from that video, wouldn’t the only gold sink in making a legendary be the 100g required for the icy runestones? (Precursors and everything else are either generated by the game or obtained from other players, so gold that is traded wouldn’t be considered a gold sink, right?)

Chris Whiteside.6102:

eyestrain.3056:

Chris, your inbox is full again (they should change your limit to be higher!). You said you’d like to play together today, what time will you be in game?

Hi eyestrain,

I am not at work at the moment due to a family emergency. How about early next week or this weekend. Sadly i cant play today due to dealing with this issue.

Chris

Hey Chris, my condolences for everything that’s going on. I hope that everything works out with the family and everyone ends up safe and happy when it’s all resolved.

LordMorgul.9845:

hi to all, i want to discuss a option for the trend of people who sells the path, that i tink is pure antigaming and i hope someone do something, like the impossibility to give or receive money when you are into a dungeon.

I can respect that opinion. I mean, you have some valid points, right? If you see someone with Bifrost, you want to be able to respect that person as having run Arah enough times on their own to earn the 500 tokens. If that’s how I got my Bifrost (“legitimately”, by playing the content on my own) then it kind of cheapens my legendary if someone else just got theirs by buying.

But another way to look at it is that, the people who are selling are using their skill, time, and ingenuity to provide a service to other players who are willing to pay for it. The truth is, you can’t force people to do things your way. You can also say converting gems → gold is “cheating” or “anti-gaming” as well, since you can obtain almost any/all in-game items of value by money → gems → gold. But the truth is, if you take that away, players will just turn to third party sources, then everybody loses. If you don’t condone the spirit of selling dungeons, all you can do is live by that standard on your own; don’t try to impose it on others.

For example, for myself, I will continue to spend money on gem store items because I support the game (despite all the slack and call for boycotting they’ve been getting) but I would never buy gems to convert to gold to buy something that can be earned in game, because I personally feel like that cheapens the worth of things and am personally “against” it.

For the record, we actually have a really awesome community full of amazing people. Before this patch hit, I rented out my minis so people could get their achievements. In all, I rented to about 50 people and made about 7,000 gold, and didn’t get scammed once. Best of all, I made friends with a bunch of new, amazing, trustworthy individuals.

= )

John Smith.4610:

Essence Snow.3194:

John Smith.4610:

Essence Snow.3194:

Is the economy designed around rewards or are rewards designed around the economy? (not talking about appearances ofc)

I’m not sure I entirely understand this question, could you elaborate?

What is the main consideration for the distribution (probability/requirements) of rewards? How it’ll effect the economy? How it’ll be perceived by the player base?

The designers and I discuss the changes, each time new content is released is a different story/plan/result.

Can you explain this for legendary weapons and precursors? Specifically, what purposes were these items meant to fulfill (in player perception, impact on the economy, or any other relevant areas). What are some examples of how the current system (RNG, tradeable on a player-driven market) succeeds in these items fulfilling their intended purposes? What are some areas in which these items fail to fulfill their intended purposes (or fulfill them poorly, or could be improved upon to better fulfill the intended purposes)?

This is an absolutely fair response and I’m so glad to hear official word on it. It makes sense that lost items can’t be restored and it’s perfectly reasonable to ask players to accept that risk if they should choose to trade on the gray market. It’s more than enough to know that Anet will take action to purge their game community of scumbags who try to cheat others, and that those who even think of scamming will reconsider, knowing that those actions will not go unpunished.

John Smith.4610:

Loot isn’t assigned until the player interacts, so technically 0. I could estimate based on probabilities, but that would be some work.

That’s fascinating!~ So let’s say I kill something, I have the option to loot, but first I eat magic find food and equip a magic find infused necklace- if I do this after the monster was killed, my loot roll will reflected the increased magic find??

Exhaustion would impair an EotM karma-train commander, who shoulders the burden of deploying rams for the zerg. Maybe the best idea would be to just have the reported trolls investigated, and for the guilty ones to be warned/suspended/banned from WvW

I got every single WvW achievement for both season 1 and spring tournament, even the ones that can not be attained in EotM (e.g. yak slapping). I do enjoy WvW from time to time, but I am not a hardcore WvWer. I WILL, however, get all of my achievements: even if it was extremely laborious, completely unenjoyable, and very stressful to have to do so within a set time frame (before the season ends); even if it means I hinder my own server to victory by spending all day multiple days grinding out achievements in a full queue WvW and preventing those who are sincerely interested in legitimately playing WvW for competition and fun from joining; even if it means I passively stand by and watch as other PvE achievement hunters rage and harass legitimate WvW players who flip an enemy camp we were farming dollyaks from (even though I don’t condone/participate in such behavior and would normally speak up).

The new system pulls achievement/reward hunters into WvW enough for them to get a taste of it and possibly get hooked on it or learn more about it if they discover they enjoy it, but also to have the freedom to get in and out and move on if they don’t. It frees up room in the WvW queues for WvW guilds and people who truly want to WvW. I much prefer the new system.

I would like to be able to search the guild roster using the name of a guildie’s character even if they are offline (instead of having to remember/search by their account name)

That’s awesome! I agree, it’s wonderful to meet good people in the world. I’ve been renting out my minis to help others get the achievement and title before the patch, and every time a transaction goes down without someone running off with my minis I’m very happy and thankful for the goodness in the world.

J Eberle.9312:

Axelwarrior.9084:

J Eberle.9312:

Axelwarrior.9084:

J Eberle.9312:

Teckos.1305:

Can we all take a moment to appreciate the fact that this Anet employe is running a celestial guard and signet of resolve.

Is there a reason for this because I just.. I can’t. I don’t even. Yeh.

A GM is not using a meta dungeon build at all times?
Well, that’s it for GW2, everyone go back to WoW or Wildstar or something.

Missed point completely. :/

Oh. Could you explain?

What is the actual use of celestial gear in a dungeon

Maybe they really like purple and skinned over their Zojja weapons. The bigger question, Nike, is why a warrior or guardian is using a shield in dungeons.

Also, maybe you could implement something in the forums that allow devs to do a like/dislike upvote/downvote type thing on player posts and comments; just to let us know you’ve read something and either thought it was a cool idea or you disagree for whatever reason

That’s a brilliant idea. But make sure you emphasize the second to last point; people need to understand it’s not an exhaustive list and it’s not a promise- it’s just to let us know you know what we care about

Chris Whiteside.6102:

cainejw.7142:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

However a number of CDIs…

The point is, as I posted before, you gotta treat users as more than wallets. You gotta talk to users like people. Joke with us, laugh with us, take 30 minutes out of your day to reply to 2-3 threads either with content based on the game or just jokes and laughter. Join your community. Then you won’t have to push the gem store with “And you can get gold!” We will see you as people who we want to support so we’ll buy that useless, silly trinket in the store because it goes to help the developers we appreciate.

Finally, in today’s world, professionalism is dead. You’re wearing jeans and t-shirts to work. Unless you’re at the top of the ladder, you’re going polo and slacks. You guys don’t have to treat us like you’re in suits. Treat us like you’re in jeans. Be cool. Be fun. Be HUMAN.

You should probably read through the entire thread. Every one of your points as been covered and for want of a better term is old feedback now.

Thanks for taking the time to post however.

Chris

I can promise you, he’s taking a lot more than “30 minutes” out of his day to read, respond, and reassure the community, even though none of that is his job, especially not the last part. It takes me way more time than that just to skim through his replies on a daily basis.

Chris, Colin, John Smith, and everyone else, thank you for taking the time to acknowledge the community’s concern. I try to keep up and skim through all the “dev tracker” posts on a daily basis, and just that alone has taken a considerable amount of time, so I genuinely appreciate the time and effort you guys take to respond. I also see all the cynical, accusatory attacks “comments” towards you all, and even from an “outside” perspective, it’s disheartening and hurtful to see; so, thank you for not giving up despite comments like that. You have created a unique and incredible game with endless potential and your passion and love for this game shines through in the videos, the comments, the extra effort you put in after hours, and in the game itself. Please don’t let trolls and toxic comments discourage you or rob you of your joy and passion for this game or take away how much you love working on and improving this game. Instead, I hope that the strength of your vision and the determination of your passion will inspire hope in even the most hurt and discouraged players. Anyway, I try not to post too much and I hope I didn’t waste too much of your time. I really love this game, and I share your passion for it, and I hope together we can make it better.

P.S. Top three things I’d like to see changed/addressed in GW2:

• 3) Allow a sink for excess ascended crafting materials (i.e. bloodstone, dragonite, emphyreal) to be used to boost permenant account karma gain %, exp gain %, and gold gain %, just like luck from excess fine/masterwork can increases magic find %
• 2) Reintroduce wepon-set specific claim vouchers that are always sold for the same price as the weapons in its set (e.g. sell a “chaos weapon voucher” for 1 black lion claim ticket; when the chaos weapon set raises to 5 tickets sell the “chaos weapon set voucher” for 5 tickets, but a “chaos weapon voucher” will always be traded for any chaos weapon in a 1:1 ratio)
• 1) Precursors/Legendaries. Make them all account bound, remove the RNG element, and standardize means of aquisition such that everyone has to go through the same process to get them. These items (IMO) should not be in the hands of every player who wants them, they should be coveted, and they should exclusive to “hardcore” players who either are avid players who spend a LOT of time in the game (I’ve 5k hours so far), are dedicated to the game (the same thousands of hours spread over more years), and/or are able to pass some skill test (Liadri 8 orbs stressed me out, but maybe normal Liadri or SAB tribulation mode level difficulty is reasonable).

I vote option two. Will there be nominations? How the scope of a topic be determined? (e.g. one player suggests “precursor crafting!” and another suggests “rewards/item acquisition”; would they get voted on separately?)

Scavenger hunting is fun, but I hope it won’t be so easy to craft a precursor. If everyone had a legendary because it was so easily obtainable, some players might feel that it wasn’t as special or meaningful anymore.

It’s great that they put in a bloodstone dust sink, but I feel like a better sink for those, and the other ascended crafting materials, would be the same way they handled fine/masterwork equipment with luck/magic find- allow these excess materials to contribute towards permanently increasing gold gain, experience gain, or karma gain.

For the CDI, let’s discuss rewards, item prestige, and precursors.

It’s not secret that a lot of players are unhappy with the current “loot system” but I believe that Anet has benign intentions and have thoughtfully considered the various means of acquisition of different items (rng, gem store, gem store + rng, seasonal, temporary/limited time, time gated, etc.) and whether an item is tradable or account bound on acquisition. There will always be players who are dissatisfied, because there will always be a tension between players who want everything without working for it, and players who are willing to dedicate time and effort into the game and wish to distinguish themselves with exclusive and prestigious items. An open discussion would allow developers to gauge whether a particular reward is serving the purpose it was designed to, and also importantly, allow the community to hear the intentions/reasoning behind some of the rewards. ….At the end of the day, at least, hopefully there will be less ignorant people who accuse, “Anet makes precursor prices so high because they want to force us to buy gems to convert to gold because obviously no player has ever been able to attain a precursor otherwise.”

tolunart.2095:

Wonderly.1324:

I like your response more than the previous quotes response because its a simpler analogy. But, how does buying gems with money fit into the analogy?

The same way that running a dungeon fits: in both cases, there is no interaction with the gems/gold exchange because the exchange is a separate thing.

When you pick up your credit card and buy gems, they are created from thin air. Poof! Now there’s gems.

When you finish a dungeon run and collect your loot, poof! There’s gold.

This has nothing to do with the exchange. The boxes can only be filled with gold or gems that already exist. In theory, if no one ever puts gems into the box and players only take them out, gems will get more and more expensive until the box is empty and there is only gold left.

In reality, long before this happens casual players will pull out their credit cards and buy gems. Now that they have gems, they can put them in the box and draw out lots and lots of gold.

Thanks everyone, for the replies and for explaining!
^_^

So, to be clear, when you make an exchange you put something in one box and withdraw from the other box (with Anet taking a cut). When you run dungeons, gold goes into your account but from thin air, not from the gold box. When you buy gems with money, the gems that go into your account are created and do NOT come from the gem box. So if you buy gems with money and then exchange gems for gold, you are putting new gems into the gem box and taking gold from the gold box (which consists primarily of other players’ gold, gold which they put in the box in exchange for gems created by other players’ money). I see!… I think? = p

TL;DR- greens/blues —> increase magic find; plz, bloodstone dust --> increase karma gain, dragonite ore —> increase experience gain, emphyreal fragments --> increase gold gain

With the introduction of ascended crafting, a variety of account bound crafting materials were also introduced. However, as the game progresses, many players have found themselves with a surplus of one crafting material or another. I would like to create a place to gather and discuss suggestions for utilizing the excess ascended crafting materials.

I will begin by identifying the “problem”. Account bound crafting material such as bloodstone dust, dragonite ore, and emphyreal fragments were added to give players a non-gold oriented sense of reward and progression towards something bigger (ascended weapons/armor) for participating in various activities. Most players will have an abundance of at least one of these materials, because individuals are likely to have different preferences and spend different amounts of time in various content (i.e. dungeons, world boss hunting, champ farming). In addition, not everyone aspires for ascended weapon, and even for those who do, it is a finite goal (meaning eventually they will craft the weapon or armor they want and run out of use for these things). Furthermore, even those players who desire to craft an “endless” amount of ascended gear will always find themselves bottle-necked by gold, not any of the account bound crafting materials. For any player who has more of any bloodstone, dragonite, or emphyreal than they need (and I would wager that would be a great many of us), these mats lose their original purpose: We do not feel rewarded when we get extra bloodstone dust. We do not feel like it contributes or progresses towards a goal that we care about, even incrementally. In contrast, there’s a high potential for negative reinforcement- either mild annoyance at getting more useless mats, or the negative feeling of having to choose between hording more useless material in hopes that it will one day be made useful, or deleting it and with every delete serving as a constant reminder that something that was supposed to be rewarding was deemed literally a useless waste of time (to destroy).

Next, I would like to talk about possible solutions. Before we throw out suggestions though, I feel it is important to examine what types of suggestions are inappropriate and why. First and foremost, these materials were made account bound on acquire for a reason- to give us a reward and sense of progression towards goals that are separate from gold. Therefore, any suggested end product or use that allows in financial (gold) gain is inappropriate. I want to turn my stacks of bloodstone bricks and dragonite ingots into a legendary or lots of gold just as much as the next guy, but we have to be fair, we have to try and restore the original intention of these materials without negating its original purpose.

I want to give a quick look at how Anet has handled something like this historically, and then I’ll give my suggestion. When the magic find system was revamped, greens and blues were changed to increase magic find on salvage. It was a subtle change, but linking those items to a bar that I can visibly see progress has changed my attitude so that when I get these blues and greens, I no longer feel like I’m just getting more trash, but that I’m progressing towards a permanent perk that will serve to set me apart from those who haven’t played as long and remind me of the time and effort I’ve invested in the game.
I propose that the most ideal solution to excess ascended crafting material is to somehow allow us to use it to contribute towards permanently increasing the other account bonuses. For example, let us craft bloodstone dust into an item that increases karma gain, dragonite ore into an item that increases experience gain, and emphyreal fragments into an item that increases gold gain. Heck, you can even require the brick, ingot, and star versions if you want to create pressure on karma, I’d be happy just to find a use for those things.

…Alternatively, you can let us rebuild Lion’s Arch with bloodstone bricks.

tolunart.2095:

Ayrilana.1396:

You’re close.

Think of the gem/gold exchange like this:

There are two boxes. One has gold in it, the other has gems in it. If you want to take some gold out of the box, you have to put gems in the other box. If you want to take out gems, you have to put gold in the other box.

You can’t put something in without taking something out, and you can’t take something out without putting something in. How much of each depends on how full the boxes are. Right now there’s a lot of gold in one box, but only a few gems in the other box. So in order to take out one gem you have to put in a lot of gold. But on the other hand, if you put just one gem into the box you can take out a lot of gold.

I like your response more than the previous quotes response because its a simpler analogy. But, how does buying gems with money fit into the analogy?

Thanks for the thread, and thank you John Smith for taking the time to speak with us!

I’m just a lowly student, and not even an economics one at that, so my knowledge of these things is very limited. But I’m going to try and explain my understanding of gem and gold currencies in layman’s terms, and I hope that you would correct/clarify any misunderstandings I might have:

I think of Anet as bank with two infinitely vast pools of currency, gold and gems. When a player buys gems with money, gems are removed from the “Anet bank” and given to the player. When players exchange gold for gems, the players’ gold is transferred to the Anet bank gold pool, and the some gems from the Anet bank are transferred to the player. Conversely, when players convert gems to gold, they are adding to and taking from the Anet bank pool of gems and gold respectively. When gems are purchased, real world money is used to fuel the transaction of transferring gems. When gems and gold are converted, the “Anet bank” keeps a cut of the gold as a transaction fee. When players buy items from the gem store, the gems go to the Anet bank, and when players buy things like T3 cultural armor, gold goes to the Anet bank.

Am I doing ok so far? I guess one confusing question I have is, on the macroscopic level (i.e. not individual cases), how does buying gems with money and exchanging gold and gems affect the exchange rate? How is it all connected?
I think I read somewhere once (I think the official GW2 hardcover strategy guide) that “every gem in existance was purchased with money”, which lead me to believe that there was a finite pool of gems available for exchange, but I don’t really understand how that fits in.

I’ll settle for just always having it out even after changing maps

Please decrease the rate. I sold all I had back in the day to scrap up 100g to buy it the first time around. I like that it’s a rare and special treasure.

Ryan Diederich.8179:

…the display bug where magic find while having a boon doesn’t show up in the stats screen.

So, important question- is the bug that the additional magic find while under the effects of a boon simply does not show up in the UI, or is the bug such that this magic find is not being granted at all?

Jia Shen.4217:

Basically time line wise this is how I understand the personal story to be. Our characters arrive in the world at their respective home area after having a flash back of how everything began. The personal story is a continuance of flashbacks while you journey through the world in it’s post Zhaitan’s defeat state. This is evident in the nature of events that are occurring in the persistent world. If the events of the personal story were not the past at the time your character arrives in the game then it would make no sense that the pact is actively fighting in Orr when you have not yet formed the pact in the story.

I agree, and I try my best to think of it that way as well. Everything in the Story Journal and living story season 1 all happened in the past (conveniently dated and all), except for the most current episode. The most current episode of the story journal and the open world at large reflect the every present, continually changing, current moment of the world of Tyria, after all of the events of the past. The way I see it, new players can jump in and explore the world of Tyria as is (kind of like joining your friends in watching Game of Thrones in the middle of season 2) but if they fall in love with the world and the lore and the story they can always go back and play through the “history” of what happened (kind of like catching up on the past episodes of GoT on your own time).

There are some problems with trying to see things this way which bother me. First, as mentioned, is that in these private instances the terrain reflects the current world. Ok, fine- now that I hear an official response saying that just a technical limitation, I can just pretend/imagine it the way it’s supposed to be (sucks for new players though). Secondly, why, in the open world is Orr still a desolate hostile risen infested land with its corruption radiating throughout the neighboring zones? I feel like, after the events of the personal story, they should really redesign all of Orr and even a bunch of neighboring zones and their relevant hearts to reflect a Zhitan-free, cleansed Orr that’s simply in the process of recovering and fighting off lingering corruption.

TL;DR- The open world should be redesigned in a patch or expansion to reflect what it would look like now that Zhaitan has been defeated and Orr is being cleansed.

The only way to resolve this is to make it so that legendaries and precursors are account bound and acquired through non-rng means. This standardizes it such that everyone who has a certain legendary has to do a certain thing. You see someone with a legendary, and you KNOW this person “worked” for it by doing map completion, WvW for badges and completion, etc. This is fair because everyone has to do the same thing, and these set things are independent of market prices. However, the tradeoff is that you’ll have people who kitten they can’t “play how they want” or are “forced” to do certain things to get a legendary. Like, you would probably complain that you had to step into wvw, even though everyone else who worked hard for their legendary had to do wvw completion and get badges and didn’t whine about it. (Unless, of course, they straight up bought it off the tp.)

I love your passion, drive, and determination. And hey, maybe I just have a thing for underdogs. You have my vote Blu! Maybe you can make a “Rocky” story out of it

“Every time a recipe is used for the first time in the Mystic Forge, it should be added to a list, much like with the other crafting panels.”

I agree with that

It sounds like this was your first character to reach level 80 and completed the personal story with. To be fair, the first time around everything indeed was harder- from personal story to leveling to dungeons. I remember needing help at certain points during my first play through the personal story as well. So, congrats on finishing your personal story! I can say from hindsight, from here on out, if you choose to keep playing the game it gets easier- to improve/gear out your first character, to level other characters to 80, and to do the personal story again on a different character; all because you already have one level 80 to fund and support yourself with. There are people who, like you, experienced the thrill and excitement of overcoming the personal story for the first time, and wanted to keep playing the game, so they did just that- better gear, more characters, gear for those characters, more personal story. And there are players who reach that point and still want to keep playing (and that’s great for Anet) but then what is there to do? I guess legendary weapons and things like that are for people like that, who just love to spend time on the game and but want to keep feeling rewarded for playing.

So from Anet’s perspective, they have to choose rewards very carefully. For completing the personal story, the reward should feel very satisfying the first time you do it. But it shouldn’t be so good that it insults the people who have spent a lot more time in the game working towards something else to find that same sense of satisfaction. I’m glad you shared your feelings on the matter, because it offers invaluable insight into the perspective of someone who freshly completed their personal story- and it is that, the rewards simply don’t feel rewarding at all. I really do hope Anet hears some of our suggestions, and improves it to find that balance. Like I said, I believe that a title to show off, maybe a unique mini pet, a few exotics, a component necessary for a legendary weapon, or even an ascended recipe of your choice- all of those things are not unreasonable (IMO) as rewards for finishing your personal story.

Now to respond to your request about dungeons. You’ve completed “story mode” for Arah to finish your personal story. Completing story mode for any dungeon unlocks “explorable mode” which is a harder version of that dungeon with optional lore. Completing a dungeon’s explorable always rewards a guaranteed amount of gold (1-3) and tokens once per day per dungeon path (most dungeons have 1-3 paths). So logically, the faster you finish a dungeon, the faster you get your gold, and the more dungeons you can run in a set amount of time, the more gold you get for your time. So there are people who figured out exactly how to complete the dungeon in the absolute minimal amount of time- exactly what professions to bring, what skills to slot, traits, gear, what to do and when to do it, all to finish a certain dungeon path as quickly as possible. It’s kind of a strategy/puzzle figuring out what works best. In fact, some people take so much pride and joy in it that they’ve donated thousands of gold partnered with Anet who donated tens of thousands of gems as rewards for a tournament they’ve set up just to see which team can finish dungeons the fastest.

If you’re interested in learning more about dungeons, this guild teaches people general tips and strategies on how to run dungeons effectively

If you’re determined to run the absolute fastest way possible and don’t mind sacrificing the freedom to play how you want with whatever gear you have, this guild has people with that mindset

Here is a link to the tournament I mentioned

I wish you the best of luck, and whether you decide to ever set foot in a dungeon or become the next dungeon speed clear genius, I hope you’ll continue playing and enjoying the game when you have time to do so!

Genevieve.1468:

Okay, I just finished my story, and was completely disappointed with the loot that i got. I feel like after more than a year of hard work, i should have received all exotics, instead of all greens! What was up with that anyway? My character is level 80 and requires better weapons than stupid greens. To really get people interested in completing their stories, you should also include one Legendary of their choice. I also did not receive a final chest after destroying the Zhaithan Elder Dragon for my story; THAT really irritated me! I got no gold, no rares, no exotics. Completely upset by this. I also think i should have gotten a new title, like Story Completer or something. Plus, from what i can see, there wasn’t even an achievement award by completing my story. All of this was just completely bogus and severely disappointing. (& yes they can fix this, by simply mailing us better loot, and giving us a title)
One more thing: if I cannot sell or recycle old armor (that I paid a lot for & am simply not going to destroy), then what good is it? Its also soulbound, which is so bogus. GW2 really needs to allow us to recycle these items.

You’ve brought up several issues I’d like to address. I will start by agreeing with you that a title or an exotic for completing the personal story is not an unreasonable request.
Now to address the deeper issue of your disappointment, I would say that your expectations did not match the developer’s intentions for the personal story. It’s not meant to be difficult, and it’s not meant to give good rewards (as you’ve discovered). I wager that it was designed for immersion into the world and enjoyment of the lore. If you want difficulty, run high level fractals. If you want good rewards, run dungeons. If you want both and even better rewards, speed run dungeons, and sign up for DnT’s PvE dungeon speed clear tournament- the reward is 1,000 gold (among other things).

I strongly believe that completion of the personal story should definitely be incloded as a component of creating a legendary weapon. However, asking for a legendary or a precursor would invalidate the purpose of legendary weapons and the personal story. Legendary weapons are meant to be a symbol of your journey across Tyria, a huge investment in effort and time in the game, and items of extreme prestige and exclusivity. In order to have value, there has to be a standard that not everyone can meet. I understand that it’s frustrating you can’t meet those standards, but that’s a fact of life. You have other things to take joy in, like two beautiful children who love and depend on you.
As an optometry student, I’m not holding a career job like my friends so I don’t have as much money to spend as them. They put in time working, they have access to resources I don’t because I have made other life decisions. That’s just a fact of life. If I can be rich without working, that would be really unfair to my friends who work hard, just like it would be unfair if they had all the knowledge I gained from hours of studying without any work or sacrifice.

Please bring back event-specific weapons claim tickets. For example, allow us to always be able to purchase fused weapon skin tickets- for the same price in black lion tickers as a current skin would cost (currently 7 black lion claim tickets). Bringing back theme specific skin claim tickers would be advantageous for many reasons. Speaking as an avid collector and loyal fan of GW2, it is beyond my means and commitment (and I would assume many other’s) to purchase every single weapon BLC weapon skin. Even at the introductory cost of one black lion claim ticket, collecting a full set every time a new set is introduced would require a defeating amount of gems, gold, and/or luck. However, if I especially like the Phoenix weapon set, for example, but I don’t know which specific weapon I want or might not have a class that can use said weapons, and I know the set will increase in price and become harder to obtain in the future, I would much more likely be willing to spend money and gems for a single black lion ticket which could be used to purchase a Phoenix weapon skin claim ticket that could be used to redeem any Phoenix weapon skin in the future. This also gives Anet the more flexibly and control over how new content is released as well. Perhaps you can be nice and, during the introductory period or season, in addition to trading a weapon specific ticket for the introductory price of one claim ticket, you can also make it so that the tickets are difficult but reasonable to obtain by playing the game content, like you did with jade weapon claim tickets (reasonable) and sclerelite weapons (SO unreasonable, even with 500% magic find it was stupid rare and I ended up farming CoF for gold for crates because I was too angry to support the gem store on that one). I’m sure doing so would incentivize players to enjoy the content and satiate some of the people who complain about the ratio of skins released on the gem store vs gameplay. Finally, I foresee this having a positive, stabilizing effect on the market. Instead of having 200 great sword skins on the trading post for 5x the cost of a mace skin, and no warhorn skin available for purchase, players will be incentivized to spend time/money obtaining theme-specific weapon skin tickets as they release, then trading in for the actual skin and selling as they see a deficit/opportunity in the market.
The old system had its strengths and weaknesses, and the new system likewise has it’s pros and cons. I believe my suggestion combines the best of both worlds in a win-win scenario. What’re everyone’s thoughts on things? I put a lot of heart into this post and would love some feedback.

Place exclusive bank, mystic forge, and trading post in the heart of the mists that you can unlock permanent access to with gems.

race change options! complete with a total reset of the character’s personal story records and history

joanisa.5768:

All the last patch/update of gw2 have made the game harder. Trains are gone (queensdale and old frostforge) and dungeons are getting harder (some of the old tactics dont work anymore). People are quitting the game because best itens are almost impossible to buy and the best ways to make gold are being destroyed by gw2. From my usual group of friends to create a party (about 13 people), only 3 of them keep playing everyday since the last update. Im getting frustraded too and i just dont get what is the point of this.

thanks.

Maybe. But this will probably only cause them to lose the types of players who lack skill, patience, dedication, commitment, who aren’t willing invest in time and effort into the game, but still feel entitled to the same high end cosmetics as those who are willing to work for it.

On the other hand, Anet may be trying to keep/gain/entice the dedicated type of players who want to distinguish themselves from others by their skill and level of investment in the game.

I agree! I also wish for those two boosts to be included

laokoko.7403:

if you do 10 at a time, you have a 4% chance of getting nothing, assuming chance is 30%. So it can happen.

If you do it 90 times and get nothing, the drop rate is probably decreased, or you are “really” unlucky.

Thank you for understanding how statistics and probability works

Xenon.4537:

I felt the need to post this topic as a neutral ground for clear-headed discussion. There are other threads where tempers and knee-jerk reactions are quickly getting out of control. This is not a post for or against the payment of 200 gems for past episodes This is a post calling for level-headed discussion.

So the Living Story will now come to us in permanently unlockable, permanently replayable episodes. You unlock them for free if you log in during that particular release. Otherwise you have to pay 200 gems to unlock past episodes you missed.

200 gems equates to $2.50 USD. A year’s worth of episodes on a bi-weekly schedule would cost at most $65 USD. This is assuming a Living World episode is released every 2 weeks without break for 52 weeks (26 releases). We know that Anet takes breaks and festival activities don’t count towards this because they are temporary, yet take up the same slots as Living World releases. Realistically a year’s worth of episodes will be significantly less than $65 USD.

On top of this, the stories delivered through each episode will no doubt find their way on to the internet. If someone wanted the backstory, they could find it for free. The only thing you would 100% have to pay your 200 gems for would be access to the rewards. Rewards thus far have been mini-pets, backpiece skins, and special ore nodes. Hardly required content. Hardly pay-to-win. If you want them, you can either get access to them for free by being there on time, or forking over two-and-a-half bucks to support the game.

Thank you for being level-headed about this. I feel that this price is more than reasonable, especially when its offered for free if you simply log in.

As a Guild Wars 2 player, I will have to pay for Guild Wars 1 and all the expansions to play and explore all the story and content and to unlock HoM rewards in Guild Wars 2. I feel that it is not at all unreasonable for future Guild Wars 2 players to buy the game and have access to the main personal story line, the entire open world and every dungeon, and basically everything that came with the game (and more) as those people who purchased it at launch, but have the option to pay for access to the story/rewards/achievements of specific episodes that they missed.

BobbyStein.2315:

Shanaeri Rynale.6897:

Looking over the LS season 2 blurb I spotted this “Past episodes will be available for purchase for 200 gems”

Does this mean if we want to reply any LS content we need to pay for it in gems? Is it an unlock a chapter forever fee for every account or is it character bound? If we pay for a chapter can we team with people who haven’t?

Personally, not sure how I feel about this move. To me it seems to step over the ‘morality line’ and move GW2 to a payment model I don’t really like..

Hmm

If you log in during the release window of an episode (e.g. two weeks) you unlock the episode for your account. You can replay it as many times as you want for free. If you miss the release window and you want to play an episode that you didn’t unlock, you can purchase it.

It’s a lot like watching television in that you can watch (and record) an episode for free when it airs. If you miss it, you can buy the episode off iTunes later. Does that make sense?

Absolutely it does. I think it’s an excellent and fair idea, especially when all that’s being asked of players is to simply log on. That’s less effort than setting up my VCR to record programs back in the day, and 200 gems is more than reasonable.

Astralporing.1957:

Delois.3974:

Do we unlock the regular skin when we buy the mistforged?

I second that question. By everything we heard so far about the wardrobe, it should, but better safe than sorry.

I third that question. I definitely would like a definitive answer before wasting tickets

Thank you for the well written and thoughtful post. I agree with you that there are certain types of prestige, and like yourself, I am someone who plays largely for prestige items.

“I was there”- I have mixed feelings about this. I will begin by saying I have every single missable (meaning account bound, never available on the TP) LS skin except for the ones released via black lion chest/black lion tickets, special SAB, and the soverign weapons. I don’t use most of those skins but it is nice to set myself apart sometimes, and I do find satisfaction in having access to looks and options that others want or admire but can not have. However, being a collector, I feel like there’s a certain level of stress/anxiety/pressure to keep up with all of these items and that feeling of having choose between investing a certain amount of time within a specific window of time doing an often very specific event- repeatedly; or forever and ever missing my chance of having that look or item is something I find very distasteful and very displeasing about the game. For the most part, the LS skins were reasonable. Some, however, I feel were not- e.g. collect a full set of SAB tribulation mode skins, all the soverign weapons the first time around, and even all 9 zephyr helms from fortune scraps (back before we knew about the wardrobe). I guess in the end, I feel like they should be consistent- either “I was there” items exist, or they do not exist at all (and all items will always be obtainable). Designing a game with “I was there” prestige items I feel like is ok as long as the items require minimal effort and is just that- you were there, you did the meta, you got the skin. I feel like time gated items should never overlap with skill (e.g. SAB trib mode skins) or excessive time/gold (e.g. current Lyssa backpiece). Doing so has made keeping up with these skins feel like a chore, and the pressure and stress has caused me to play this game but not enjoy it.

“skill”- Yes, dungeon selling does destroy that and the new PvP system completely obliterated it. And yes, I was just discussing with another player how venom share thieves have robbed us of the satisfaction of defeating Liadri

“gold/time investment”- Precursors should be account bound on acquire, should never drop randomly, and require a long and epic process to craft- three to five times the effort it takes for an ascended weapon. And legendary weapons, of course, should also be account bound on acquire.

Lobo Dela Noche.5127:

Wonderly.1324:

Dusty Moon.4382:

People don’t understand that – bling, in this game, is about working for it as it is optional – now you have to work for it if you want it.

I absolutely agree with you, Dusty Moon. People whine because they want legendary items through non-legendary means. facepalm How about, don’t even consider converting money —> gems --> gold. How about, just play the game, and if you’re committed enough, disciplined enough, you get what you worked hard for. And if not, you really don’t deserve it. It’s not just about game devs making money. It’s about the game having value. Items (especially cosmetic ones) have value intrinsically because of it’s scarcity. That principle means not everyone is going to have one. What should determine who should have these precious items and who shouldn’t? Well I would suggest that it should be the people who are willing to put in the time and effort. As for everyone else… My legendary weapon, my fractal weapons, have value to me not just because of the look, but for the simple fact that you don’t have one and you want one.

You aren’t acknowledging the fact that it was easier for people in the past to get what you got. They aren’t asking to be handed anything they are asking for the same rate to get something that you had. How can you say with a straight face that people should just work at it when in the past it was way easier. How about make it so everyone who wasn’t around for it can make 100g a day doing dungeons. How about bring back the pen/shelt farm so the new players can get their t6 mats. This game has changed tons in the last year and for those that made tons of money in the beginning to say just suck it up is pretty lame considering that most of them had it way easier.

I apologize if that was the impression you got; I agree, it ISN’T fair if something was easier to get back then than it is now. I don’t think older players should have an advantage over new ones. I DO think that some items should be so rare and so scarce that more people don’t have them than who do, but I think the factor which determines who gets it shouldn’t be who started the game earlier, it should be the amount of time you put into the game either farming or honing your skills. Rare things should have the same barrier to access for old and new players alike- time commitment and skill. As for 100g a day doing dungeons, if you’re referring to CoF, that’s 10-12 hours a day with an extremely fluid and focused team that rarely takes breaks even for the bathroom. While I agree with your point that it sucks that some of the methods in which older players used to obtain gold is no longer around, it’s important not to over romantacize what it actually was. And finally, Anet nerfed those things because they wanted to balance the game. I’m sure in an ideal world they would have known how easy/fast it would be for players to make gold in such ways and they never would have allowed it in the first place. But it’s a learning experience for the devs, and once they see a method allows for gold too easily they’ll remove it in an attempt to balance it to their ideal. It’s unfortunate that there’s a small window of “opportunity” where some players who are around for that duration are able to profit. But you can’t really fault Anet for removing those methods, if their ideal is that they want items to be scarce and difficult to obtain

Dusty Moon.4382:

People don’t understand that – bling, in this game, is about working for it as it is optional – now you have to work for it if you want it.

I absolutely agree with you, Dusty Moon. People whine because they want legendary items through non-legendary means. facepalm How about, don’t even consider converting money —> gems —> gold. How about, just play the game, and if you’re committed enough, disciplined enough, you get what you worked hard for. And if not, you really don’t deserve it. It’s not just about game devs making money. It’s about the game having value. Items (especially cosmetic ones) have value intrinsically because of it’s scarcity. That principle means not everyone is going to have one. What should determine who should have these precious items and who shouldn’t? Well I would suggest that it should be the people who are willing to put in the time and effort. As for everyone else… My legendary weapon, my fractal weapons, have value to me not just because of the look, but for the simple fact that you don’t have one and you want one.

Your reason #1 is true in a sense. Correct me if I misunderstand, but I will infer that by “loot” you mean players seek a sense of reward and measurable accomplishment from participating in game activities (e.g. events, killing monsters, etc.). If that’s the case, then I absolutely agree, that feeling of reward is something I imagine which drives a lot of players, myself included. However, you have to ask yourself, what makes an item in game worth something? It’s only a bunch of pixels after all. And in GW2, a largely cosmetic game, the pixels you want probably don’t even give you any combat advantage or in any way improve/limit your ability to experience the game at all. (I can run level 49 fractals on an alt with all exotic armor if I wanted to, and I certainly won’t kick someone out of a dungeon because the “only have” exotics). Items have worth in the game because of their looks, not because of their stats, and because of their rarity. If legendary weapons dropped like blues and greens then everyone would have them and they would be just more trash drop (ones you can’t even salvage, at that).
Back to your original point, you say that loot is “why we play”. Well, what happens when you get your loot? “getting loot” is a nice reason to play but HAVING loot quickly becomes boring for some players. That is, once you achieve your goals and get what you want, you lose incentive to keep playing. Making “loot” more accessible and easily attainable will satisfy the impatient, but in the long run it will age the game more quickly and people will get what they want, feel dissatisfied because it was too easily attained, and then get bored and move on.

As for ArcheAge, as someone who has paid $150 for the English alpha access and who has also played the game, I can agree that it’s a great game with it’s own merit. But that being said, it’s a vastly different game than GW2 and comparing the loot in the two games in that way is an invalid comparison. In GW2 loot is individualized. Theoretically, multiple people can pull precursors from the same killing Jormag event. The drop rate HAS to be lower to compensate. As for AA, let’s say you want the glider dropped by the Krakken, the best glider in the game. Well even if that glider drops 90% of the time you kill it, it’s going to take 50+ people to take that thing down. Who decides who gets it? You still end up doing the event and not getting any “loot” because your guild leader or someone higher up in on the totem pole than you, more socially savvy than you, or more entitled than you gets the “loot”. At leas in GW2 you get SOMETHING, greens and blues and karma and experience, all which can contribute towards your legendary or whatever “loot” you desire to buy off the trading post.

WasAGuest.4973:

I just wish some of the loot I did get wasn’t 99% trash items, meaning that I might actually put it to use.
Majority of stuff I get sits there till I stop a moment and flood the TP/Merchant sell and then move on. Almost nothing has any value* at all.

*Value: A unique skin that I like, something worth a reasonable profit to combat my constantly falling behind on the rate of inflation, stat/level match for my character WITH fitting the design of my character (getting a human designed piece of armor for an asuran not only makes my character look silly, but ruins the “Awe!” factor of an item that might actually match the stat setup I’m looking for – not that that has ever happened yet though).

*Value 2: At level 80, blues and greens have no purpose nor value to them, yet that’s about all I find. Which makes killing anything that doesn’t have a loot bag a waste of time and effort.

Value is relative. Even more so in GW2, because stat progression hits a plateau relatively early and the one of the primary ways to distinguish yourself and feel a sense of reward is cosmetics. If legendary weapons dropped like blues and greens then it would certainly lose it’s “awe factor” for many people, at least myself. Salvage your blues and greens for magic find and top end crafting materials which can be sold and the income contributed towards that next look or armor you want so much.