Black Lion Chest and Devaluing The Past

So there are multiple sides here. First I was one of those that pre-ordered GW2 and did some of beta but then did not come back and play until a few years after the game was live since I was active else where. So I missed LS1 and came in mid LS2. Hence there were things I would not be able to acquire. That was cool, there should be some perceived value in collecting things for your account. I also admit I am a trader and I do gamble on Black Lion chests.

All that said I think the trend of offering things that people missed via Black Lion unlocks is not a good thing for veteran players. It removes value from players that are veterans and worked thru and acquired things at the time they occurred. I appreciate that people have things that I missed at the time and can say that's cool. I fear that moving items to the BLTC of historical value is not good. I like that I can see people and think, hey they were part of x event. Its fun and I can tip my hat to them even if I missed it. By just offering these things up it reduces their value. I understand it increases sales but would ask ANet to think more on the portfolio and offer new things and keep to their ideal of living story, its ok to have things that are timely and that come and go. Its ok that I might miss something and not be able to get it. Skins are just skins but still there is value in timeliness, please don't undervalue that.

I know others will feel that well I should be able to get this even though I wasn't around at the time, or it is just a skin why can't I get it, but that's part of the appeal of things, its good that we are not cookie cutters. Giving people rewards for the time they played is a positive thing in light of the "Living" story. Don't take that away. Keep sales and marketing in line with art producing new things and let historical things have value.

Again not popular, but I also know it makes players say, well I skipped that, its ok it will just appear later in the skin unlock so what's the point. Which to me, is not a good thing, even if I am a trader of skins.

2 cents, good gaming.

I don't care. I am around since release 2012 and probably got every event-specific item and skin since then. I don't care if some new player gets one of these from current chests as well. If they have fun with that, that's ok for me. I'm happy if some sad player is now able to acquire these items and his game experience gets better because of that.

If some skin price drops because of that, that's ok for me as well. Although I saved some once-expensive rare skins from the past, I don't care. The game is made so people have fun with ingame stuff, and if ingame stuff is made available to a broader audience of players, that's perfectly fine.

Don't take a game too serious.

You know most of those items are available through Laurels, right?Also as someone that actually played a lot of that content but simply wasn't lucky with some of the RNG, i welcome the chance to get it again.For example the Jade weapons. Totally RNG drop. Now can be obtained with lion statues.

I'm a huge fan of games having some "you had to be there" items. I enjoyed in GW1 the fact that some people had some cool headgear from past Halloween or Wintersday that I would never be able to obtain, because I wasn't there at the right time or place.

However, there are two things that probably make my preference inappropriate for skins from LS #1:

• ANet all but admitted that the entire idea of "content that's only available once" didn't work (for this game, at this time).
• ANet has mostly withdrawn the exclusivity of rewards based on time/place: in GW1, anyone who has played long enough has access to all the festival headgear and just about every mini (even some awarded as bonus for special offers or contests).

I think it would be fine to invent a new skin, perhaps a mini or hat, that is available to those who participated in LS1. But to prevent all the new players from obtaining every single skin, just do to the accident of not having been a player in 2012-3? That goes against the reward structure for the game, at least how it's evolved through to today.

I think a perfect example of an acceptable restricted reward is the Celebration Hat. This was offered as a reward for playing during the first month. It's a fun novelty, without much ability to fit in with other gear. Offering this to people just starting the game would devalue it and it would be better to offer a comparable alternative. (Perhaps a cap with an HoT or PoF logo, for example.)

A perfect example of a restriction that I think should be broken: Scarlet's Kiss. This is a skin that just happened to drop from Scarlet and continued to have some supply on the TP. Thus anyone could have it, if they were willing to spend the coin. I think it's better to make such skins available to anyone from other sources.

tl;dr while I'm a big fan of rewards based on time/place, I agree with ANet that these should restricted to a tiny fraction of rewards and nothing too exciting.

As a veteran who has regularly played since launch, I love the return of historical rewards as it allows me to fill in things I missed.

RNG, dead servers being unable to complete the server-wide content of LS1 and LS2, and the limited 2-4 week availability of content all served to prevent many regular players from getting all the rewards.

Personally, I was really happy that they made the old items accessible again. I had gotten them on my first account, but due to being stalked, I had to create a new account. My favorite items on my old account were my selfless potion and the crystal holographic dragon wings from the Dragon Bash, and I was able to get them on my new account now.

Of course, it's nice that they're giving players that weren't here during those events a chance to at least get the items, even if they can't experience the actual events themselves. At least players that were there still have their memories of what happened. Ellen Kiel vs Evon Gnashblade, the dragon bash, Scarlet and the Aetherblades, the destruction and rebuilding of Lions Arch, the Queen's Jubilee... Some players missed out on all that excitement. What you have that they can't have is your experience. :P

I've always played casually; it's all I can afford to do. LS1 brings a lot of great memories for me. It was a truly unique experience with lasting impacts on the game through changed maps. The excitement that came with the events was unparalleled.

I think it's great that a lot of the skins and items are being made available to those that missed out on this limited time, early content. There are a few items that remain harder or impossible to get now, and there are some unique titles that can't be earned any longer. To me, the titles give players the opportunity to display that they weren't only there, but that they accomplished something too. Sure, other players have adopted some of the "style" as the years have passed, but hey... YOU were there.

Isn't there still titles and achievements that cannot be acquired unless you were there for living season 1? Those still give a margin over those that get the items through Black Lion chests since more those achievements are historical, no longer obtainable and are better proof that 'you were there' more than some skin.

Tbh, I truly hate the ' if you missed it, oh well' thing. After dealing with it in WoW and seeing players purposely buy up mounts on the black auction market to delete them, of watching players roll need on a mount they already had, get it and delete the mount so it 'remains rare' and other toxic dillbuggery that made me quit that game entirely, I don't want Arenanet to repeat that. I don't want to see Guild Wars 2 players become that Scrooge that drives new players away.

@miraude.2107 said:Isn't there still titles and achievements that cannot be acquired unless you were there for living season 1?Several thousand AP, too.

As a veteran, I support all items being available to all players to obtain. It would (and does) put me off any game to find I couldn't something cool just because I wasn't "there" to have such an opportunity.

This extends to keeping all BL skins and all gemstore skins available as well

New players should be able to get whatever they want. It's a fashion game, and you must be able to do it.

Oh yeah, let's just forget about achievement points skins related... Though they mostly suck, it was definitely a fail given the game.