Suggestion: Stop putting exclusive skins behind RNG.

You can keep putting weapon skins etc you can get via other means such as tickets in there, but for the love of the pale tree, stop putting exlcusive skins in black lion chests. I've spent 40 keys worth ( approx. 60% money 40% in game gold) and still don't have the jewelled scarab beetle.

I wait until it's available through some other means.

So far, the pattern has been:BLC random uncommon drop → unavailable through any means → statuette and/or container (with guaranteed drop) → unavailable → alternative source → unavailable → statuettes and/or alternative source.

The speed at which each unlock moves through the phases differs greatly and some items haven't made much progress. But I can wait. I have no interest in paying a high premium just to have things when they are first released. (I will do some key runs, just in case I do get lucky; I just don't count on it.)

Gotta get that money man, this indie game has to survive somehow.

@Ephemiel.5694 said:Gotta get that money man, this indie game has to survive somehow.

U’re so right. Why people don’t understand that the devs have to earn money somehow? There are a lot of skins avaiable as quite regular drops, achievs or others way. Putting some others into BLC is a simple way to force player into buy keys from gemstore = daily money for anet. If we are talking about the RNG behind chest like the zephyrite ones, this is a obvious way to sink the materials from the TP, as u are forced to buy keys with those mats. It’s called economy. There are a lot of things or skins that i can’t earn in game, and that i cannot afford trought gemstore but i understand that i can’t have anything, so I move on. More people have to understand that. Or spends more money and hoping to be better lucky. (No native English here)

@Kuulpb.5412 said:Stop putting exclusive skins behind RNG

That is not going to happen, they have already set it in stone now, best thing to do is stop caring about those skins.

@Mirdave.2014 said:

@Ephemiel.5694 said:Gotta get that money man, this indie game has to survive somehow.

I don't gamble. ArenaNet loses a sale every time:

A. The item I want to buy isn't even available to buy....B. The only way to obtain the item is through gambling/luck.

Point blank, not going to happen.

Businesses are in business to make money. No profit, not business. One way ANET makes money is by selling Gems that can be traded for some known and some random items.

If you know the item is random (exclusive) then it's rare or super-rare and you are aware that the chance of acquiring what you want is just that; rare or super-rare.

I like opening the RNG Black Lion Chests just for the thrill of getting that one item I didn't expect to get. I don't plan on getting my money back or a specific skin. So I can't lose. I go in with eyes wide open.

Part of marketing strategy is finding the best value per unit, the reality of it is there are more people whom support the gambling of BLC (keys) for specific rare items then there are those that are against it, if nobody gambled then ANET would have to approach things with a completely different strategy (for example selling the specific product at a highly inflated price directly). Essentially ANET will make more $$ selling many BLC keys then they would by selling the specific product you were after (only one time).

@Tatwi.3562 said:

@Mirdave.2014 said:

@Ephemiel.5694 said:Gotta get that money man, this indie game has to survive somehow.

As CJH.2879 stated above, it's more profitable for ArenaNet to put items in the BLTC than it would be to sell those same items at a higher price(and they would be higher) directly to the player base. This has been studied and analyzed more times than you can guess, it's simple marketing practices and it plays into the human psyche.

They could always do both. If the average drop rate from using keys is (for example) 1 out of 30 Keys they could charge 35 to 40 dollars for the skin. Then people could decide to buy outright or try to gamble. Of course if they charged the average price in keys to get the skin the forum would explode with cries of “cash grab.” I have the feeling that people who say “put it up for direct sale” mean ANet should sell it for 400-800 gems.

Like the other back item combos it should be available for 60 statuettes so you should stop once you have either.

@Tatwi.3562 said:I am 100% positive that people would flock to a store where all the items were available all the time at set prices in USD, because it's convenient and transparent - no gambling/luck, just pick the item, pay for it, enjoy!You're also 100% wrong. If Anet would make more money that way, they'd be doing it that way, they're not just doing it to spite people.

@Hyper Cutter.9376 said:

@Tatwi.3562 said:I am 100% positive that people would flock to a store where all the items were available all the time at set prices in USD, because it's convenient and transparent - no gambling/luck, just pick the item, pay for it, enjoy!You're also 100% wrong. If Anet would make more money that way, they'd

be

doing it that way, they're not just doing it to spite people.

Also, ArenaNet has offered items that can be obtained through RNG at a set price (in USD, among other currencies) (see Mount Select Licences), and some of the playerbase is unhappy with that, as well. You see, set prices are higher than taking chances with RNG. I'm sure you understand why.

@Kuulpb.5412 said:I've spent 40 keys worth

Working as intended.

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Also, ArenaNet

has

offered items that can be obtained through RNG at a set price (in USD, among other currencies) (see Mount Select Licences), and some of the playerbase is unhappy with that, as well. You see, set prices are higher than taking chances with RNG. I'm sure you understand why.

A set of 4 mounts is 2000. In what world does that make 1 mount worth 1200?

@Rhyse.8179 said:

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Also, ArenaNet

has

offered items that can be obtained through RNG at a set price (in USD, among other currencies) (see Mount Select Licences), and some of the playerbase is unhappy with that, as well. You see, set prices are higher than taking chances with RNG. I'm sure you understand why.

You can buy 4 Chevy Sparks for less than the cost of a Mercedes Benz E-Class Convertible.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:You can buy 4 Chevy Sparks for less than the cost of a Mercedes Benz E-Class Convertible.

You must be kidding. The 4-sets are custom modeled premium skins. Most (though not all) of the Istani mounts are just color retextures of the defaults. I think you have your analogy backwards.

@Mirdave.2014 said:

Cause you only hurt yourself when you cant control your desire. However, not being able to control yourself and not understanding why they do this this way are two different things.Its simply fact that they need to make money and that rngbasedsales seems to be more profitable then direct sells.The other part is why should it matter to someone. I mean, sure, some skins can look sweet. But i would never fell like i have to buy keys so i have a chance for that skin, when i could instead use one of the many other skins in the game i could use instead.

I agree.Same went for me with the Chaosskins. Some cost ~900g, which wasnt worth it in my eyes, so i used sth else instead. And then they came back this year in blc, dropped huge on tp and i got the one i wanted for a price i was happy with.

@Rhyse.8179 said:

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Also, ArenaNet

has

offered items that can be obtained through RNG at a set price (in USD, among other currencies) (see Mount Select Licences), and some of the playerbase is unhappy with that, as well. You see, set prices are higher than taking chances with RNG. I'm sure you understand why.

If you only want one of those 4 mount skins then 1200 is cheaper than 2000. It's the convenience of picking the one you want that you pay extra for and it makes sure that the people who did buy them in RNG style don't get ticked off.

@Rhyse.8179 said:

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:You can buy 4 Chevy Sparks for less than the cost of a Mercedes Benz E-Class Convertible.

You asked

A set of 4 mounts is 2000. In what world does that make 1 mount worth 1200?It's got relatively little to do with what you or I perceive the costs to be and everything to do with how much people are willing to pay. Thus, in this world, there are plenty of examples of things priced 4 times as much without costing four times as much to make.

Personally, I don't agree that the themed packages are "premium." They are (to me) the base skins with a costume slapped on, the same costume on each (I exaggerate: I know the actual artwork is far more complicated; I'm just speaking about how it looks to me). Consequently, 1200 for Starscale is a much better deal, for me, than 2k is for five mounts, only one of which appeals.

@Xantaria.8726 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:

@Tatwi.3562 said:

@Mirdave.2014 said:

@Ephemiel.5694 said:Gotta get that money man, this indie game has to survive somehow.

Everyone needs to make money. But I don't cheat on people with gambling.

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Xantaria.8726 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:

@Tatwi.3562 said:

@Mirdave.2014 said:

@Ephemiel.5694 said:Gotta get that money man, this indie game has to survive somehow.

I rather like them to cheat on me with gambling which i not take part in then on paying a monthly payment :P. Though i must say i would rather pay a monthly payment by now if they would therefore release more content.

First rule of gambling; House always wins.

I have been playing Gw2 since August 2017 and so far have not bought any skin, dye. I paid for Ls2,3 tho. And thats all. RNG does not work in my case or I can say , I am the winner when things are RNG. Dont gamble and you are the clear winner :p

GW2 goes out of its way though to both protect yourself from RNG gambling as well as also make available gambled things at a later point in time for fixed price. This is one of the least predatory cashshops i have seen, and they actually take feedback from players if something they do is too offensive for players and react on it.They have these chests here and that is mostly just it, if you can't handle gambling then wait till at some point it becomes available. Funny thing is also, that you wasted much to gamble --> get those drops you need to buy it later at fixed price. It's like even again a protection system, all the wasted gambling accumulates into something you can later use to get what you gambled to get. Maybe they should put a big fat warning on the chests saying: "RNG DROPS - NOT GUARANTEED, ONLY GAMBLE IF YOU ARE OKAY WITH LOSING". They even have a thread for requesting returns of items in case they forget etc. Not sure if that thread works for the chests too but woudn't be surprised.