Would you buy more than 800 gems at a time with real world money if there was a volume discount?

There has been a lot of discussion on the forums recently with regard to mount skins and a new thread started regarding incentivising gems purchases with rewards - my take away in part is that some are concerned with value for money. This got me thinking about how we are able to buy gems and that there is no incentive for purchasing more than £8.50 worth of gems at a time.

In the main I'm a super happy player in GW2. As and when I can I do buy gems so I can treat myself to a gem store item. One thing that I noted early on is that there is no discount the more gems you buy beyond the initial 800. This has always been a little disappointing to me but not a deal breaker by any means.

When I do my family grocery shop, when there is an offer for buying 2 or more of an item - I will generally buy the 2 or more to get the discount. At the time I'm spending a little more than intended, but over time this pays off for me because these are items we consume/use on a regular or daily basis. The win for me is that I feel like I've got value for money when I acquire items at some sort of discount. The win for the retailer is they shift more stock quicker.

The economy balance thing in GW2 is far more complex than my brain can handle and granted gems are not the same as consumables from the grocery store so perhaps that is not a good comparison. I used the grocery store as an illustration of my buying habits.

From my very simplistic point of view, if there were some kind of incentive to buying more than 800 gems, I probably would and I'd be able to purchase more of the things that I see and like from the gem store over time. Would such a discount be incentive for you to spend a little more on gems than you may have done or do now?

Apologies if my post isn't very clearly worded...little bit nervous about posting a poll...do hope the majority get where I'm going with this question and those that don't will not totally flame me. I would like to also hear from ArenaNet as to whether or not they've ever thought about offering bulk buy discounts on gems or if it is something they might consider as a special offer from time to time in future.

Yes and no. So far, there is nothing I could really use, but I would do so. I purchased my beloved Hunter via gem-to-gold conversation, that was €38. But else, as long as arenaNet does not offer me suppressed pistols, I really have not a single reason to spend Euros on anything ..

Excelsior.

Nope, nope and nope...

Sure. Why wouldn't I ?

Could be nice.

I'm going to copy and paste from the last post (which was the same thing)

Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop, holy shit stop.

I don't have a lot of rl money, so gotta priotise... like food for me and my cat, so kinda rare I spend money on gems at all. But if I had the money to spare and there was a nice discount, I proably would.

That's how most store currencies work the more you pay the cheaper it gets, that was standard for Subs as well.

@Zeefa.3915 said:I don't have a lot of rl money, so gotta priotise... like food for me and my cat, so kinda rare I spend money on gems at all. But if I had the money to spare and there was a nice discount, I proably would.

Been there most of life, only now that I've hit my late 30s have things looked up in that regard.

@Nick Lentz.6982 said:I'm going to copy and paste from the last post (which was the same thing)

Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop, holy kitten stop.

Why?Since i don't, feel free to expose any disadvantage from this proposal.At worst, you will simply use the low tier as it currently is.

I REALLY dislike volume discounts on virtual currencies. I see it as a deceptive practice designed to get you to invest more than you really want to into the virtual currency. GW2's gem store is already bad enough in their $5.00 -> 400 exchange rate, a scaled discount would make it even more deceptive. Ideally, you just have a FLAT exchange rate, pegged to 1:1 with the dominant local currency, and the only thing that gets discounted are the items you can buy with the currency.

The thing is we do get discounts not in gems but in items wich kinda serves the same purpose, i bought 2k ish gems when there was the copper and silver fed o matic sale tis all about buying smart

No, there's enough of us that already buy the gems in greater amounts than the minimum, normal economies in the real world are supported entirely by consumerism, but unfortunately most governments seem to have forgotten that. The more money you give people to spend the more money they will spend, pretty simple concept it works with gems too, why buy 800 gems when I can get 8000(just for an example)...that gives me the opportunity to buy more stuff in the store. I also don't use the analogy of buying items at the store on discount...I prefer quality over quantity most of the time.

I said maybe, but the maybe choices might better have been left at just one, Maybe. For me, level of discount would apply, as well as other factors like whether ANet was at that time offering anything aimed at me.

I voted no. But mostly because I won't buy gems at all with the current prices. 800 Gems, the entry to purchasing should give you a large and a small item. Lets say a skin and 5 transmutions, or a black lion kit, or 5 black lion chest keys.

If you look at something like Planetside 2, there is a subscription with bonus xp and currency, and currency purchase too. Entry level gives you access to anything premium. They also let players enter helmets into the store and share the profit. I know what effort goes into a skin, its not simple, but its not 2000 gems worth either!

I waffle in my opinion.On the one hand, every other game I've played gives you a bigger discount the more you buy, and when I am buying gems in GW2, it's frustrating that it costs the exact same no matter how much I may buy.On the other hand, I am often grateful that I can buy gems in small, affordable amounts without feeling the pressure to buy more because of some discount.

I already buy more than 800 Gems when I do buy, as Gem Cards don't come in such low amounts. I already get discounts by purchasing said Gem Cards as the authorized retailers gives a discount.

Thus, I have no idea how I would answer the poll.

When I buy gems, I sometimes buy more than 800 now. It depends on how many I need and whether I think I might spend them in the near future? Not sure which poll option I should pick.

Do I think they should have a volume discount? Yes. I would then always buy the biggest bundle when I'm out, and govern my spending over time. For better or worse, this game doesn't have 'all' that much I like to buy from the gem store. Glider here or there, bank space, shared inventory space. I like the multi-tools. I got the home nodes.

I would spend a 'lot' more if there were outfits I were interested in, but this game pulled away from that direction a year or two into the game and they never looked back. And that's fine, they drew a line in the sand, and I respect that. Just...not much for me to spend on moving forward.

Sadly, there are a few other games I tried that I 'really' like the options they have in their store, some I played longer than others, but at the end of the day, they had something about their game play that finally frustrated me and I quit. But, I probably spent more money on them than I have here. Which...is weird, but there you go. :)

If you build it, they will come. Except they won't have bats. Or walking in from the field. Or in uniforms.

ANet has repeatedly said that they don't intend to offer gems at a discount, if for no other reason than gems can be converted to gold and they want the exchange rate to work on supply & demand (unaffected by "sales" of gems). On very rare occasions, retailers have offered gem cards at a discount; don't expect ANet to do so.

My other MMO (Elder Scrolls Online) does this and I will buy more of the store currency than I need at one time because of it. So I'd probably do the same in GW2 depending on the price of the packs (I'm unlikely to spend £85 on gems at one time, even with a discount.)

The problem is I don't buy more overall. I'm not one of those people who feels like I need to spend store currency as soon as I get it and will buy things I don't want to clear it. I bought PoF Ultimate Edition back in the summer which included 4,000 gems. This week was the first time since then I dropped below 1,000 (and I've not bought any more since then) and I still have a few hundred left. Those will stay until I find something to buy with the

So that means there's a clear incentive for me in this system because I get cheaper gems, but there's no incentive for Anet because they get money in less frequent intervals and less money overall than they do now.

@Danikat.8537 said:My other MMO (Elder Scrolls Online) does this and I will buy more of the store currency than I need at one time because of it. So I'd probably do the same in GW2 depending on the price of the packs (I'm unlikely to spend £85 on gems at one time, even with a discount.)

The problem is I don't buy more overall. I'm not one of those people who feels like I need to spend store currency as soon as I get it and will buy things I don't want to clear it. I bought PoF Ultimate Edition back in the summer which included 4,000 gems. This week was the first time since then I dropped below 1,000 (and I've not bought any more since then) and I still have a few hundred left. Those will stay until I find something to buy with the

So that means there's a clear incentive for me in this system because I get cheaper gems, but there's no incentive for Anet because they get money in less frequent intervals and less money overall than they do now.

Yeah, I mean it's basically a system that causes two problems, 1. there's a big gem sale, and you didn't buy any because you didn't need any, then it's over, then there's a cool item on the store, and you're like "oh no! I could have saved X dollars if I'd bought the gems on sale!" and then 2. there's a big gem sale, you buy a ton of gems, and then nothing interesting comes up for sale for several months and you're just sitting on those gems, feeling like you wasted your purchase (even if you consciously understand that it'll work out eventually). Those are both annoying situations to be in.

Really great points in all of the comments - thank you for the great discussion thus far. Me, I'm still sitting on gems from the PoF Ultimate edition as well...because I'm waiting for that must have item to pop up on the gem store. As there is never a discount on the gems, I tend to be a lot pickier about what I spend on. My spend has mostly been on QoL items, additional storage and character slots, home instance nodes, the occasional skin and if I'm feeling flirty, keys when they go on sale.

I rarely buy outfits because I like to mix and match my armor. With the outfits there is more often than not an element I'm not overly keen on that nixes the purchase for me - ladies shoes is usually the issue that makes an outfit a no go. At any rate, I really miss the armor skin sets for the ability to mix and match and would love to see new designs up in the gem store, sooner rather than later.

So far the common theme in this thread is that there isn't enough variety on the gem store to tempt us into making those gem purchases more frequently. A good portion of us would favour a bulk buy discount but without anything to spend the gems on, well the discount becomes a mute point.

One thing I like about the gem shop is it DOESN'T have volume discounts.

It doesn't try to manipulate you into having to buy more than you would actually want to spend.

@Taygus.4571 said:One thing I like about the gem shop is it DOESN'T have volume discounts.

It doesn't try to manipulate you into having to buy more than you would actually want to spend.

Not quite true...I checked the shop today because I wanted to confirm to myself that there were no discounts on gems. There are price breaks for the more you buy on certain items in the gem store. Keys was one item - there are others on there as well that I can't recall just now. The price breaks are not consistent so discounts on certain items are greater than on others.

*looks at bank statement and gems purchase"

Ummm....guys I may have a self control problem. :-)