Guild Wars 2

John, I propose that you strip the accounts of convicted insider traders, liquidate everything, and then distribute the proceeds equally to everybody who’s posted in this thread. Including you.

Madora.9340:

I buy my gems too, but I don’t put gems back into the system, it isn’t worth the gold and people don’t seem too keen on understanding that basic concept. However, when it’s about 20 gold per 100, I’ll consider it.

I’m much the same. Whenever there’s been something in the gem store that I really wanted, I got out the credit card, bought gems, and spent it immediately. Thus far I haven’t actually bought gems to convert to gold; the exchange rate is currently at the point where I would consider it (100 gems to 5g), but at the current rate of inflation (? Not sure if that’d be the correct term for this), I think I’m going to wait till it hits 100 gems to 10g. That day will henceforth be known as “Zaxares gets his Emperor title” day.

There’s actually 3 distinct player groups at work here:

A. Players who convert gold to gems and never spend a single $ on gems. (Ursan, and most other GW2 players, is in this group.)
B. Players who purchase gems with $ and convert it to gold. (Smooth Penguin is in this group. There was also another guy, Geomancer, I think, some months ago who converted LARGE amounts of gems to gold on a monthly basis.)
C. Players who purchase gems with $, but spend the gems directly in the gem store. (Me and Madora are in this group.)

If you want the exchange rate of gold to gems to improve, what you really need is more people from Group C going to Group B, since we obviously have the disposable income to spare, but currently do not see the exchange rate as “in our favour” enough to pad our coffers.

Otherwise, what will happen is that players from Group A will either stop buying gem store items once the exchange rate becomes too unfavourable, or they move to Group C because the time invested to earn gold to trade to gems is less appealing than just spending the money directly on gems.

Ursan.7846:

1. Attempts at monopolies/manipulation do occur, but are rarely successful/profitable.
2. Insider trading suspected, actions being planned.
3. Queen’s Jubilee really gave players lots of resources, ascended weapons a very good sink for them.

2. Oho! This should be interesting to watch.

3. I wonder if Queen’s Jubilee is going to come back in a similar form. I could certainly do with the price of Vicious Claws coming down again.

No, I don’t have an account with gw2tp. Not sure why it’s not working for you.

Got 1 Dark Matter, 2 Ectos and a Magi’s Orichalcum Inscription from an Exotic dropped in Fractals last night. Good salvage.

It is working as intended, but yeah, I do agree that perhaps it should be changed so that you can’t use a recipe sheet unless that particular character has that crafting discipline unlocked. Would make it harder to accidentally use the recipe on the incorrect character.

^ No, that’s not true. You can still get a Daily chest from every set of 10 Fractals. So you could do 9, 15, 23, 37 and get one Daily chest from each. But if you did 2 ,3, 4, 5, then yes, you’d only get the one Daily chest for the 1 – 9 Fractal set.

Agreed. I personally would like to see Fractal Weapon skins purchased with Pristine Relics (for a suitably high price, of course), or perhaps a way to exchange Pristine Relics for normal relics so we can get Obsidian, more boxes etc.

What I’d like to see as tweaks to the existing Fractals:

Swamp – No change.
Aquatic – No change.
Snowblind – Change it so the Svanir mobs drop loot. This should encourage players to fight their way through the forest instead of just skipping everything. Who doesn’t want more chances at Elaborate Totems and Corrupted Lodestones?
Urban – No change, although the Ascalon Warriors do seem to hit crazily hard compared to other enemies in the map. Not sure if that’s intended.
Uncategorized – Haven’t run into it myself, but the Invulnerable harpies bug does sound horrendous and should be fixed.
Cliffside – Fix the Archdiviner so he drops Champ loot bags, just like every other Legendary foe. Adjust the scaling of the Arm Seals a bit so that running back and forth between them is still a valid strategy up until the upper limits of Fractal levels (perhaps the number of Chanters spawning only goes up slowly, from 2 to 3 to 4 etc. each time a group is totally wiped). I don’t mind using the “leave one Chanter alive” strategy, but it does feel somewhat gimmicky.
Volcanic – No change.
Underground – Change it so that less dredge reinforcements spawn in the initial portion; once killed, guards don’t come back (except at the control panel, where they spawn more slowly). Remove the bomb/turret section entirely. Adjust Rabsovich’s portion so that the number of dredge reinforcements popping out of the APC isn’t so high on higher Fractal levels. Final boss fight remains unchanged.
Jade – No change.

Evon would murder you for daring to imagine him as a pony.

@Razor: I’ll concede that Evon MAY intend to use his wealth to steer LA towards the greater good. We know that he’s secretly an undercover agent for the Ash Legion (although that was in the past. He might have had a falling out with them in the years since, seeing as how none of his original warband seems to remain with him), and he probably has vested interests in maintaining peace and stability in the area. He’s still not getting my vote, but I acknowledge that there’s more to him than meets the eye.

I believe rodadams version is correct, based on my own understanding of what I’ve gleaned from ANet’s posts.

That said, if AR infusions drop in Fractals, but only go into the special slots unlocked on Infused Ascended gear, then I really hope we can sell AR infusions, otherwise I’m going to end up with lots of AR infusions and no gear to put them on (since I don’t intend on going any higher than lvl 30 Fractals and therefore don’t think I’ll need to spend the crazy amounts of wealth creating Infused Rings/Backpieces).

Only the Infused Rings/Backpieces will get the new Agony Resistance slot, so yes, if you’re planning on doing high level Fractals, I highly recommend upgrading your gear now to get the free +5 AR infusion in the slot when the change goes live. Come Nov 26, any new Rings/Backpieces that are infused will NOT come with a free +5 AR infusion.

^ Source? I would be thrilled if that were true, but the last time I heard Colin speak on the subject he said that they were “happy” with the way PvE aesthetics was currently being handled.

Playable Krait/Naga as a new race, plzthx.

Thanks for the tip on how to salvage them. Still, using a Transmutation Crystal just to get the rune out? I won’t be using that method unless the rune/sigil is particularly valuable.

Yeah, it’s currently bugged. ANet is aware of it and a fix is in the works, but no ETA on when that’ll happen. In the meantime, you can use a Warrior’s Sword #2 skill as Garrisyl suggested, or the Engineer’s Rifle jumpshot skill to progress through the JP.

Cyclonite.5786:

Any player who has 31+ personal reward level as of the new Fractals announcement should receive a special FOTM title. Anything less is a slap in a face and disrespectful to the Veterans who put in their time.

I made this suggestion in another thread. I think a “Fractals Pioneer” exclusive title would be a good way to acknowledge the players who made it past level 30.

I don’t know if players who made it past level 50 should get another different title though, since ANet’s locking of progress past 50 clearly states that it was “unintended” for players to go higher than that.

That is correct. The Currency Exchange works as follows:

1. When it was originally released, the Exchange was stocked with a large amount of gems. People buying gems with gold would put gold into the exchange and remove some gems, while people buying gold with gems did the opposite.

2. Over time, many more players preferred to buy gems with gold, while the number of people buying gold with gems has remained small. This has resulted in the amount of gold in the exchange increasing, and the number of gems decreasing.

3. Thus, with less gems available, the gold price for them increases, but no new gems are added to the exchange unless more players buy them with cash and exchange them for gold. Until the ratio of players who are willing to spend cash for gems increases to match the people willing to spend gold on gems, the gold price for gems will only continue to increase.

Some additional information:

- Gems spent in the gem store are NOT added to the exchange. When gems are spent at the gem store, they are destroyed.

- There is a tax on players buying gems with gold. That’s why it costs 7g to buy 100 gems at the moment, but selling 100 gems would only give back 5g. This exists both as a gold sink, and also to discourage players using the exchange like a real life currency exchange where they could potentially profit by buying gems and then selling them again when the price fluctuated.

Hey, I loved that crazy kitten’s shout! :P

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Now the cheaper BL Keys Evon promised, that would have been valuable, as people would have flocked to the Gem Store to eat up that yummy goodness.

And there would have been much more whining about how Evon (ANet) ripped them off by giving them junk in their BL Chests.

I’ll stick with Kiel, thanks. At least her promised benefit wasn’t a poorly disguised attempt to fatten her personal wealth.

I would have preferred to see the Abaddon fractal though.

Arikyali.5804:

Truth is, I used to be a writer in my free time, but I never really gathered anything to construct a proper book. Perhaps I should go back to working on it…

You should. You’ve got real talent for it. There are some very talented writers here in this thread, but so far your story is the one I’ve enjoyed reading the most.

And it’s worthwhile noting that while gem prices may settle a bit after the initial demand surge, it never quite returns to the level it was before. Therefore we can expect to see prices for gems continue to climb in the months ahead. This is most likely a testament to people’s ability to earn gold in game; people who are perfectly fine with spending cash for gems, like me, are more likely to simply buy enough gems to get what we want, and not convert any excess to gold.

Haven’t seen any teleporting farm bots for months now, but farming bots are still around. I saw some back in October hanging out in Gendarran Fields and Harathi Hinterlands, always in out of the way spots farming tight clusters of mobs over and over.

Sounds like I need to do World Bosses more often. O.o I tend to do them only if it’s needed for a Daily, or if I’m in the map at the time when he spawns.

Last Exotic I got was the Commissar’s Manifesto from guess-who last week. Was a bit tempted to salvage it, but I saw it was selling for about 6g so I opted to sell it instead.

A suggestion.

To the Fractals veterans who have advanced past level 30, what would you say to an exclusive title called “Fractals Pioneer” or something similar? It would show that you got to above level 30 prior to the change. We could potentially include another one for those who got above level 50, although I think that one’s a bit iffier considering ANet seems to hold the opinion that it was “unintended content”. (I personally don’t mind a special title for 50+, but the final decision lies with ANet.)

To the OP: It could be worse. They could make it so the Molten/Aetherblade mobs now need stomping too.

I do agree though. The Molten/Aetherblade mobs are a step above the normal difficulty of most enemies, so they need to be balanced carefully so the new Fractals don’t become another Underground; loathed by most players and usually skipped if possible.

Nah, that would make them undisputedly better than any other rune for Fractals, resulting in situations where high level Fractals start “requiring” the rune for runs. I’d much prefer to stay away from that.

Sarahfull.4930:

O.o fractals are fine!! some of you guys need to join me so I show you how awesome fractals is :p

Im also like you, I dont like to skip fights/moobs; its free loot!!

sarah

Hmm… Do you do dungeons too, Sarah? Maybe I should add you to my Friends list for days when I’m feeling up for Fractals/dungeons. (Which are usually days when it’s a Daily. XD )

As long as somebody’s at the top of the Tower, they can pull everybody into the instance with them. The party doesn’t need to be together.

Wait, I’m actually not sure if it works across servers like dungeons. I do know that it works if everybody’s in the same map on the same server, even if one guy’s at the top and the others are at the bottom.

Yeah, I had a feeling that when the 2013 Halloween skins went up to 5 BLTickets, that the 2012 Halloween skins might make a return as well. That would put their price range up to the 100 – 200g range at minimum; much cheaper than certain highly desirable skins like the Greatsaw, but still within the range of “expensive luxury goods” to make them not exactly common among the player base.

That didn’t happen, of course (and it’s a good thing I wasn’t planning on getting the 2012 skins), but it just strikes me as unusual given that Halloween 2012 is now the only set of special edition skins that aren’t available via the BL Weapon Merchants.

Ursan.7846:

Though I’m all for actions which encourages players to buy gems to convert to gold. Is nothing but positive to Anet and to players like me who exchange gold to gems.

Nooooo, I want it to go higher! Prices have dropped below the 100 gems → 5g mark again. Come on, 100 gems → 10g exchange rate!

Shufflepants.9785:

Has gw2tp only been around for like a week? The data doesn’t seem to change between clicking the “1w” and “all” buttons.

Funny, it does change for me. Maybe the item you’re looking at has only been out a week? (e.g. some of the new Nightmare Tower stuff)

The one thing I do miss from gw2spidy is how item details were available right on the page.

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

Zaxares.5419:

I’m still debating whether to get this on my Sylvari. The price isn’t really an object to me, but I already have the Aetherblade axe on her and it would go to waste if I got the Dreamthistle axe as well. :/

You only have one character? Because I’ll switch out the Aetherblade axe to another character and give the Dreamthistle axe to my Sylvari. (thank the gods Anet decided to make the tools accountbound!)

Oh no, I have 5 characters. But all 5 of them already have the Aetherblade axe.

I DO have a mule I could stick the spare axe on in case ANet ever does make Tengu playable characters (I would create a Tengu Thief in a heartbeat), I suppose…

Wanze.8410:

Zanshin.5379:

Zaxares.5419:

Speaking of Halloween skins, whatever happened to the new Halloween skins? Are they still being sold for 1 BL Ticket? (Can’t get into the game to check right now.) I never saw any announcement saying they were going away soon. The reminder that Dreamthistle weapons were going up in price reminded me.

Halloween’s are sold for 5.

They do not announce when they are changing the price. It forces you to hurry and buy at the beginning.

Evon keeps us well informed, he said on Nov. 5th:

Halloween Items Leaving Soon!
You’ve got just one week left to store up enough Halloween goodies to last the year! Soon, Trick-or-Treat Bags will be gone from Black Lion Chests, our Halloween costumes, finishers, and miniatures will disappear, and the Halloween weapon skins offered by Black Lion Weapons Specialists will go up in price!

Ah, I did miss that. So the old Halloween skins like the Greatsaw etc. didn’t return then? (Must not have. I’m sure there’d be an outpouring of rage from speculators if they’d returned.)

MassDelusion.9130:

You guys don’t understand anything

We paid 250ectos to infuse it. After this update it means we have a 2ND INFUSIONS SLOT THAT CAN GO UP TO +10 Agony Resist, where as everyone else can only have 1 infusion slot that only holds up to +5 agony resist if they didn’t invest 250ectos.

So, if you paid 250 ectos to infuse
you have…
1 Normal Infusion slot that can hold +5
1 New infusion Slot that can hold +10

You can now have +15 on you’re backpiece if you paid 250 ectos.

I’m not certain that’s how it works. There’s some talk going around that the new Agony Resistance infusions only fit into the Infused slot, but I think that sounds counterintuitive. Instead, I think that the new AR infusions can go into any infusion slot, but the new second slot on Infused Ascended backpieces/rings can only take AR infusions.

What this means is that you could have a player with 2 rings and a backpiece, giving him 3 infusion slots. He sticks +5 AR infusions in there. Total AR = +15.

Another player has 2 infused rings and an infused backpiece. He has 6 infusion slots, and he sticks +5 infusions in all of them. Total AR = +30.

Now, if Player 1 wants to go into higher Fractals, he can either create Infused Ascended gear, or he could put higher AR infusions into his 3 slots. (I think somebody calculated that it would take about 80g to make a +10 infusion, but to make a +20 infusion would cost a staggering 700g.)

So, at some point down the line, if Player 1 is really serious about doing level 30+ Fractals, they’ll need to invest in Infused rings/backpacks if they don’t want to be crippled by the costs of creating super-high AR infusions.

And of course, for the absolutely, truly dedicated Fractals runners who want to do 50, they’ll probably need Infused Ascended gear AND super-high AR infusions. It’s a massive gold sink, only designed for those who want to be the “rare few” who do level 50 Fractals.)

Uvatha.5476:

Zaxares.5419:

Hmm… I wonder how much XP discovering Beaded weapons would give you at that stage…

Considering they’re crafted using tier 4 mats I wouldn’t expect as much as crafting strait up T6 exotics.

Obviously, but depending on your spare karma, it might be worth spending some of it on Sun Beads to squeeze out as much XP as you can from them. It would cost just under 30k karma to discover all the Beaded weapons, not a huge amount if you do a fair bit of WvW, underleveled Fractals or regular Teq runs.

Pretty certain that Sentinel inscriptions/insignia can’t be crafted. They were only available from salvaging Sentinel gear from the Molten Facility. The Ori inscriptions can now be acquired from the Guild Commendation trader, and it’s highly likely Gossamer insignia will also be available there when r500 armor crafting is introduced.

Try the larger servers like Blackgate or Tarnished Coast. There’s usually still a few small groups in the Tower on TC at all hours of the day.

No confirmation either way, but I’m fairly certain the Fractal skins will continue to be account bound. (Even though personally I would like them to be tradable.)

I don’t mind PUG’ing Fractals, but I do wish more people were willing to kill stuff along the way rather than skipping everything. (This goes for dungeons too!)

One important thing to note is that the devs have said that AR infusions of at least +1 drop from the chests. It may therefore be possible to get +3, +5 or higher infusions from the chests at higher Fractal levels.

Unfortunately the introductory story instance is no longer accessible since Nightmares Within was released. Not a move I agree with, but that’s how it stands at the moment.

Personally I think one should be able to talk to Helper Dee and replay the introduction that way.

So, it seems that Southsun Survival has a new bug where the Immobilized condition is briefly removed when the match countdown finishes, but before the match officially begins. This allows players to dash to the campfire and start grabbing items, and most usually take advantage of the situation by grabbing arrows/pistol and killing as many players as they can when the Immobilized condition is applied again.

I think it’s a funny bug personally, and it does make it easier to farm kills for the achievement, but I’m guessing this is something QA should look at.

Oh, and there’s also a hilarious secondary bug where Rangers that join the map, but have not fully zoned in yet, have their pets not being Immobilized either. If an active player hits the pet with an attack, the pet retaliates and usually OHK’s the offending player due to their miserable 1000 health.

My guess is that they will remain account bound (even though I personally would like them to be tradeable). The move from them to being skins (and the new Fractal skin box) suggests that ANet wants them to remain as prestige skins for Fractals veterans.

Razor.9872:

When you word it that way, it does sound bad. In another context, one could say he used the election as a time to show he is not afraid of self-sacrifice. He could potentially be losing a lot of money by offering that sale, but chose to go with it anyway.

Except we both know that’s not the case. ALL gambling has the odds stacked in the house’s favour. They wouldn’t be in business otherwise. Evon’s not dumb; he wouldn’t have made the offer if he knew he’d lose money out of it. Call me cynical, but I see his offer as just another way to fatten his coffers while making it out to be a “service to the people”.

Don’t get me wrong; I agree that as a character, Evon has a much more interesting background than Kiel does. However, I still wouldn’t want him in charge of my government. :P If the elections were held again today, Kiel’s still getting my vote.

Speaking of Halloween skins, whatever happened to the new Halloween skins? Are they still being sold for 1 BL Ticket? (Can’t get into the game to check right now.) I never saw any announcement saying they were going away soon. The reminder that Dreamthistle weapons were going up in price reminded me.

Not really CDI-related, but it would be great to be able to view only ANet responses in a particular thread. This enables us to quickly look up dev responses and summaries, which I think is an excellent way of keeping us informed of feedback and discussion.

It’s random. When harvesting Quartz, there is a rare chance to get an extra 5 crystals on a swing, and a very rare chance to get a Charged Quartz Crystal on a swing. (Both don’t proc at the same time, but it’s possible to get 5 extra Quartz on one swing and then a Charged Quartz on another, as happened to me once.)

I would love WvW ranks to be account wide too. Just keep a running total of the number of points earned, but each character has their own ability track. This allows all characters on an account to earn progress and XP, but players can specialise each of their characters in different roles.

For me personally, it’s Kasmeer’s Staff, Final Rest and Bramblethorne.