Guild Wars 2

I’m hoping for skins for a wider variety of weapons Seeing the awesome greatsaw skin makes me wish I had something neat to put on my hammer. Can’t help but wish for something like the super sledge from the fallout series.

Sounds like a bug, but in the mean time, I’m 95% sure that the stuff that comes out of them is NOT soulbound, so you should be able to open them on your mule and drop them in the bank.

While I agree that the drop chances could stand to be quite a bit higher, I also understand that from a business perspective it’s easy to see the potential of having a highly desirable item that is given out on a low-chance basis to folks who spend money. This will definitely encourage people to spend money, however, I agree that more folks would probably spend money if they had a higher chance of getting a skin from the chests. All-in-all, though I’m happy with the mystic forge chest recipe that they implemented — it bumps up the number of chances you get by basically 50%. That’s fine to me.

Cloud.2178:

What’s the point of getting this achievement again? We don’t need this completed to move on to the next act do we? …

No, but folks who want the Emissary of the Mad King title will need to complete it.

I’m actually very happy with the Mad Chest solution (and I was one of the folks who criticized the low drop rates on Black Lion Chests). Here’s my feeling: folks who spent money on keys (myself included) basically get an extra “chance” from every two chests that were opened. Basically, buy two, get one free. I’m ok with that. The drop rate on Halloween skins seems to still be abysmally low, but now at least I can get other event related items, which is all I really wanted in the first place. It’s obvious that not everyone shares this sentiment, but seriously, I feel that at the VERY least this is a step in the right direction.

DumpTruck.2945:

no-one forced your hand in spending cash. there is an option to buy gems with gold. if you burned through your gold (such as i did) and resorted to buying with cash that is your choice not the devs. i stopped when i dropped my account gold down to 50silver and decided if i didn’t get one by then i wouldn’t get one. i haven’t spent cash and i understand the disappointment, but seriously if you spent cash you only have yourself to blame.

A few others have said it, but I’ll repeat it as well, most folks who spent money don’t so much mind that they spent money. We are just lacking incentive to spend any MORE money. I’m personally happy to spend money on something I enjoy, so long as I feel like I am getting something for my money. I don’t regret spending money on keys, I just don’t see myself buying any more keys with the current system. I’d wager to say that’s the general feeling of the majority of folks who have issues with the chest gamble system. We’d LIKE a reason to give ANet our money, but there really isn’t one right now.

Narkosys.5173:

What people seem to forget is that Anet prayed upon GW1 past and line their pockets with this. Had they stated it was a rare drop and not simply a chance then I could have agreed with them. They didnt and took advantage of a previous relationship and burnt trust and loyalty in one swoop.
No I havent got keys nor would i buy them.It seems like a shady deal to earn a quick buck at throwing 8 years under the GW2 bus.

Again, I really don’t think that was an intention. I’m definitely willing to give ANet the benefit of the doubt on this, as they have a great track record for being customer-conscious. I think in this one regard, they kind of dropped the ball in terms of thinking the process through from the consumer’s perspective.

I’m not going to argue on the constructive criticism and whining — there is, and always will be, both present. I’ll just say that most people aren’t making demands of ANet, they’re just stating their disappointment in a facet of the game, and letting them know what would alleviate that disappointment.

SmOkE.2805:

Here is a hint for everyone and anyone complaining: It’s a “GAME” if you don’t like it, don’t play it. Don’t try to get a skin from a BLC. Do dungeons, PVP, WvW. Don’t participate in the Halloween event, then guess what, you have nothing to kitten about…

Pretty effin simple….

I think people are just trying to give some constructive criticism. The fact of the matter remains that the more money people pump into ANet, the more money they will have to improve the game. If folks are dissuaded from spending money, that hurts everyone in the long run. While there may be some people who are demanding some sort of compensation (which I personally think is a bit unrealistic), most of us are just trying to let ANet know ways that they could improve future events.

@takatsu

I can’t speak for other folks, but personally, I like the idea of the event skins simply because they appeal to my tastes. I don’t use a greatsword on any of my characters, but I probably WOULD if I had the greatsaw skin, since I see that and think, “Man, who WOULDN’T want to swing around a chainsaw?” I can’t say I spend much time looking at other folks characters, but I do enjoy dressing mine up, and gearing them up in a way that is appealing to me. I have a decent paying job, so I’m happy to spend money on things I enjoy (in this case, GW2), but I understand not everyone feels that way (even folks with a lot more disposable income than myself).

Sahfur.5612:

Easiest thing we players who supported the game can do is just stop buying stuff from them because we learned the valuable lesson they were trying to teach us. You are doing it wrong, try learning and paying attention to their example.

We can all be as well suited for pure survival against (not with) the other people of this world, if we just act the same way.

Again, I thank ANet with all my heart and soul for teaching me the right way.

To be fair, I very much doubt that ANet had any malicious intent with the chest gamble — I just don’t really think that they thought it through all the way. As some other posters have suggested, even minor even related prizes (event tonics/event crafting materials/Trick or Treat Bags/etc.) would have been enough to keep some folks dishing out money. Had the drop rate been such that on average a person opening 30 or so chests was likely to get a weapon or armor skin, you’d have an even larger percentage throwing money at ANet.

D W.5179:

igmolicious.5986:

I think the point MOST folks are trying to make isn’t that they want their money back, but that odds this low dissuade them from wanting to spend money in the future. I love the crap out of this game, but I’m not likely to buy more keys any time soon — problem is, with a large enough group of that mindset, ANet may wind up seeing some decline in financials

The counter argument to that I guess would be, if the odds were too high, then those that bought a bunch of keys would wish they didn’t since their cool new skin X is being worn by half the population. There has to be a balance. I don’t know the real numbers here for the odds on BL chests, but the fact that plenty of people have already gotten skins from them would tell me that it is high enough as is. Just my $.02 and I do see what you are saying, I would just prefer they remain rare.

I’m of the mindset that even if you get an event item, you’re not guaranteed to get the one you want, but knowing that there’s a decent chance that you will get an even item, you’re more likely to sink gems (an for most of us, that means real money) into it. Had I gotten an event item from the keys I spent $20 bucks on, I’d be more likely to buy more keys. I would have had some sort of return on the investment. As it is, it’s hard for me to justify spending more money without knowing I’ll get something other than boosters out of it (boosters are nice and all, but I have a pretty significant stockpile in my vault already).

I think the point MOST folks are trying to make isn’t that they want their money back, but that odds this low dissuade them from wanting to spend money in the future. I love the crap out of this game, but I’m not likely to buy more keys any time soon — problem is, with a large enough group of that mindset, ANet may wind up seeing some decline in financials

Unknown.3679:

This is really a shame to see all this result, not including myself. I opened about 40 chest and I am not going to advance further until I hear any announcement from ANet telling me is not a bug and is working as it is. I am not born with a wealthy family and work my blood sweat and tears for the cash and not going to blow it if the chance are randomly draw in an odds of 6 (weapon skin) + 3 (armor skin) out of 23 (is only the list on wiki and it could be more) possible junk, so the ratio is 9:32 … Is that justifiable?

Well, 9 out of 32 items that CAN drop from the chests are event items, but that doesn’t seem to have anything at all to do with the drop rates of the event items. Plenty of folks opened dozens of chests, and only a small handful received event items. The drop rate appears to be abysmally low for them, which is fine, but sort of discourages folks like myself from spending money on it. I generally won’t spend more money on a gamble than I would to directly purchase items that I’m hoping to gain from that gamble, and I’ve met that quota.

Lucas Ashrock.8675:

Event activities? Like what? The LA one near the lion is broken.
Find books is an event maybe?

Well, that one, the haunted doors that pop up in various locations, finding candy corn, costume brawl chaos, experimenting with recipes… there’s a lot to do. Apparently there were a bunch of new regular DEs added too, though I haven’t had a chance to go looking for them yet (patch dropped late in the EDT timezone, and I’m working today). Also, hunting for the new jumping puzzle, mini dungeons, and event achievements is on my to-do list.

I absolutely love the event activities — I also got a hearty chuckle out of smacking giant candy corns with a pickaxe. I can’t wait to get home and check out more of the event (I still haven’t run through the event quest line, since it was having some issues last night), and if anyone has any clues on how to find the clock tower jumping puzzle or new mini dungeons, I’d love to hear them

I can certainly agree that expecting certain odds of “winning” rare items is unreasonable, but on the other side, I also feel like ANet might have more purchases in future events (heck, even this event) if the odds were a bit more slanted toward the players benefit. I personally bought $20 worth of gems, spent nearly all of those gems on keys, and went to town on chests that I had saved up. I didn’t get anything, of course. I certainly don’t feel “cheated” in the slightest, but at the same time, I don’t feel encouraged to spend any more money on gems due to a lack of return on my previous investment.

Dead.7385:

Most expansion packs for P2P games aren’t free, but are slightly discounted (around 40.00 – 50.00). GW1 model had paid expansion packs at full retail price. So it is highly likely this one will too, and most likely it will be full retail price (60.00).

To be fair, though, in GW1, the expansions were standalone games, but allowed you to take advantage of more content if you owned more than one. If GW2 follows that model, I’d be more than happy to shell out full price, since it’s a separate game.