Which currencies really need new/better sinks?

A number of discussions have popped up on this board lately that all seem to have a similar problem: there are currencies and/or items that are given to players with high frequency that have very little use. Two examples that currently grace the front page are Spirit Shards and Luck.

Luck is a bit different in that it's an item that every player has use for--up to a point. Once you hit that point, it goes from being nice to have to virtually useless and inventory clogging. Since Luck is an item rather than an actual currency, there are a few more things that can be done with it, like crafting recipes. However, since we also have precedent for merchants taking items as a currency, perhaps a merchant can do things with excess luck.

Spirit Shards are an item every player gets. And gets. And gets. Since it's a currency, it doesn't take up inventory space, but items that give them to players do. Tomes of Knowledge are the main culprits here, though Writs of Experience are indirectly also inventory clutter. The problem is that there aren't any good sinks for Spirit Shards. Legendary weapons only take 200. Mystic weapons are heavily gated by mystic coins. Siegemaster's Guides are the best sinks, but are only applicable for WvW players. We need to see either more universally applicable recipes that use what spirit shards can already purchase, or see new uses for the shards themselves.

What other currencies do we really need new sinks for? What ideas for new sinks do people have?

Some of the map specific currencies like Lump of Aurillium or Ley Line Crystals. Now I don't think that these maps need new items but some of the rare drops like Chak Egg Sac should be available for diect purchase (for a considerably high price ofc).

Essensen of luck!

The problem with excess, be it currency, hero points, mastery points, salvagable materials or whatever else you can think of, is that for the most part of the playerbase, these items/points/materials aren't in excess at all. Creating more use for them also creates a much larger demand among the majority of the playerbase that don't have an excess of them in the first place. Introducing new uses for such items can quickly lead to widen the gap between those who already have a huge surpluss of resources and those who don't.

For example, consider a vendor that gives you one piece of blue unidentified piece of equipment (the PoF variety) for one 200 point essence of luck. Those who have maxed their magic find most likely aren't satisfied with this, as it will only give them a few crafting resources and (potentially) even more luck (or a few pieces of coin if they choose to put it on the trading post rather than salvaging themselves), I'll take a wild guess here but I doubt there are many players around with maxed magic find who are low on either common crafting materials or coins (although "low" of course is a debatable measurement).

Now look at the other players with less than maxed magic find (most likely the vast majority, judging from the people I know in game, many of which have thousands of hours played but still only have their account magic find in the low 200%). None of these people will benefit from another vendor in the near future while still spending their luck on the available sinks like guild hall decorations. While an extra unid'd piece of blue equipment won't make or break an account, it's a steady trickle on top of everything else that will eventually only serve in letting the "rich" become even "richer" (but still complaining that exchanging luck for blue equipment isn't "worth it").

ANet's best bet would probably be items/services like the Ley-Energy Matter Converter that allows you to convert one HoT map currency into another at a sizeable premium (25:10) and restriction (trade per day per currency), but again they have to use this sparingly (same with the "eaters" like mawdrey and the star of gratitude) so as not to widen the wealth gap between the few and the many too quickly.

If you are bothered by your excess materials, your best bet most likely is to get creative yourself in using them or just accept that some have a surpluss to ensure that most have a good supply (just like hero points and mastery points, both of which I have in excess but acknowledge that many are still struggling even with all the extra options). Use spirit shards for siege upgrading. If you don't know anyone you'd like to give superior siege to, just put it on the trading post. And donate your excess luck to friends (or even strangers) that like to craft guild hall decorations. Red lanters is one thing our decorators can never have enough of :) .

With Spirit Shards I have no problem, because they go into the wallet and take no space. I don't need to get rid of them. With "physical" things like ascended materials or luck it's different. They actually take up space and handling time. Space costs money, and time is money. If you have 30 bank slots filled with dust, fragments, ore and luck, you are occupying space worth 7,50€, similar with using inventory space of additional characters. I'm sure I'm not the only one who bought an additional tab and then filled it with that junk. That is not a smart way of managing your real estate. I treat it like real life space. I pay 18,50€ per square meter and month for my apartment. Right now, about 3 square meters are occupied by boxes with stuff we don't need and will probably never use again. I'm paying 55,50€ per month to store junk. Even if the stuff in the boxes was given for free, it would still cause costs.

It's the same with junk items in this game. You get the junk for free, but it actually costs you currency to hoard it. I don't store any of the ascended mats, I delete them when they fill up the material storage. If you got 20 slot bags for mules to store junk, best thing to do is throwing away the junk and selling the bags. Buy something nice with the gold that gives you joy. You don't need a sink to get rid of it, it makes no sense to be willing to sell the mats for 2 silver a stack but not be willing to just delete them.

(edit: wow, this turned into a rant by mistake)

The main problem for me is more when items/currencies becomes inventory clutter. I have no problem with having Spiritshard, dungeon tokens and whatnot in excess because they reside in the wallet and are "invisible". New outlets, sinks and vendors are of course always welcome but otherwise I am content with letting the currencies accumulate over time naturally.

Most games requires some form of active inventory management regardless, but in GW2 it has become a more and more noticeable problem over the years. I just feel there are soooo many mapspecific objects and gizmos, that only does one task, that you have to bring. Thankfully keys has recently been added to the wallet (thank god!) but there is still a heap of items I am forced to drag along, and that I question are necessary. Do we really need shovels in the Silverwastes if we have Bandit keys? Does the Brandstone Multitool in Domain of Istan bring enjoyable gameplay (I've only used it once)? is there a reason why Pile of Elonian Trade Contracts needs to exist, instead of just giving you the trade contracts in the first place?

It is also concerning that an old problem keeps getting repeated; we have 41 unique currencies in the wallet at the moment, of which at least 23 that I know of has existed as objects taking up inventory space.Same issue with event or seasonal items that I have to constantly google to see if they are safe to delete or not.

Luck is of course a hot topic; I was elated when they removed the magic find from gearsstats, but now as my account slowly creeps towards that 300% cap I feel dreadful for when luck will start flooding my bags. It feels really strange and shortsighted that there is no plan in place for when players hit the cap.

Unidentified gear has been a blessing in the new areas, and I wish it gets ported to HoT and Core-areas to, just so I can rid myself of all these green sigils and runes once and for all.

Another age-related problem is the increasing number of teleports and eaters, as we get new ones added frequently.

What I would like is that they started to add new tabs in the Hero panel for:

• Gizmos (i.e. Brandstone Multitool)
• Services (i.e. Mystic Forge Conduit)
• Portal Scrolls/Devices (i.e. Invitation to "Lily of the Elon")
• Converters (i.e. Star of Gratitude)