How much have you really invested into your account?

Out of general curiosity, I requested the total amount I have spent to date on my account and was told by support that the information would not be provided.By chance has anyone else had any luck with a request of this sort? If so how did you go about finally getting the information?

If you're talking real money, then my answer would be using your own (or whomever actually paid) financial tools such as credit card statements or emailed purchase confirmations. If you're talking gems, then just use the gem store's history tab.

Easiest thing is to search your e-mail history for 'Guild Wars 2' or the like to get only your GW2 receipts, then add them up. Failing that I'm pretty sure the gem store tab for purchasing gems includes a history list - not sure how far back it goes.

Gem store history is no good for me, it only shows the past year and I can't remember what was bought with gold purchased gems and what was real money gems.

If I really wanted to find out I'd go through my bank statements and/or emails to find all the transactions. But searching almost 7 years of bank statements (going back to the start of pre-purchase when I bought the game), even online where I can use automated searching to speed it up, sounds like something I'm not going to do without a good reason.

If you're in Europe, you can force ANet to reveal any information they have on you under GDPR laws. If you're living somewhere else, this might be more difficult.

I didn't check with ANet, but from what I remember I spent on GW2:~ 100 € special edition at release~ 100 € HoT special edition~ 30 € PoF standard editionbetween 100 € and 200 € on gems in between

@BunjiKugashira.9754 said:If you're in Europe, you can force ANet to reveal any information they have on you under GDPR laws. If you're living somewhere else, this might be more difficult.

I didn't check with ANet, but from what I remember I spent on GW2:~ 100 € special edition at release~ 100 € HoT special edition~ 30 € PoF standard editionbetween 100 € and 200 € on gems in between

You can force them to share any information they have. But gem purchases go through a seperate company (Digital River or something) so you might need to contact them instead, and they may not keep records of individual transactions going back to the launch of the game.

Thank you for the responses, as I don't live in Europe it seems that they just will not tell me.Going through receipts for the past 6ish years is really a no go as I just kinda purchased the gem cards usually when I got groceries for the week.I am not going to stop supporting the game as this is kinda the hobby that I choose to spend my money and time on.I do have a general range of what I have spent by looking through my gw2 efficiency stats.I was just hoping that there database could give me an accurate figure.

There is an argument that playing GW (a lot) is not too different from having a gambling addiction. Casinos must provide a profit/loss report for any who ask. Maybe that law should include online habit-forming games as well. Of course, there is no 'profit' for the gamer, so maybe gambling is a better habit. ;)

@BunjiKugashira.9754 said:If you're in Europe, you can force ANet to reveal any information they have on you under GDPR laws. If you're living somewhere else, this might be more difficult.

The payment provider is digital river, so that would be the company you need to reveal such info. Further, GDPR is a pretty recent law. DR could refuse on the ground that most data pre-dates thislaw and claim the data before this date is not suitable.

@mercury ranique.2170 said:

@"BunjiKugashira.9754" said:If you're in Europe, you can force ANet to reveal any information they have on you under GDPR laws. If you're living somewhere else, this might be more difficult.

GDPR is retroactive, from the point it came into force it applies to all data still held, regardless of when it was collected. So unless they got rid of all data from previous years they couldn't do that, and I think they have to retain at least some data under other regulations.

A lot of organisations, mine included, did use it as an incentive to have a massive clear-out. I was finally able to get rid of an entire cupboard of old paper records I'd been arguing for months we didn't need to keep but no one wanted to throw away "just in case", it was quite satisfying to be able to say we had to get rid of them because it was going to be illegal to keep them. But there are always records which need to be kept for various reasons, especially when it's related to financial transactions.

However it also only applies to personal data - stuff that can be used to identify a person, and I think there is a clause where if the data cannot be retrieved in a "reasonable" amount of time it doesn't need to be provided. So Digital River could potentially say (only if this is true of course, otherwise it's lying to avoid a legal requirement which is itself illegal) that all they keep is the bare minimum information - something like the card number, the amount and which of their clients it was for - and since that can't be used to identify a person it's not applicable under GDPR. I don't know of course because I've never asked them what format their records are in. I'm just saying there are situations where GDPR doesn't apply and companies don't have to give you all their data related to you.

@Danikat.8537 said:

@mercury ranique.2170 said:

@"BunjiKugashira.9754" said:If you're in Europe, you can force ANet to reveal any information they have on you under GDPR laws. If you're living somewhere else, this might be more difficult.

The data held can be used to identify a person. The reason is cause it isn't limited to the database it is connected to. For example, an IP-adress is considered data that can be used to identify a person cause the ISP holds a list of what user is using what IP-adress at what time. DR has to keep track of the GW2-account the person is using so they can resolve disputes that are filed at Arenanet support. For this, you also need to have your full name given.

You are correct that it is illigal to claim you didn't keep data, while you did, but then again, anyway to check this would mean a big infringement to the company and such investigation would not be allowed by the court over a GDPR-case

@mercury ranique.2170 said:

@BunjiKugashira.9754 said:If you're in Europe, you can force ANet to reveal any information they have on you under GDPR laws. If you're living somewhere else, this might be more difficult.

As someone who had to implement our companies GDPR compliance i can confirm they cant do this.

But the guy isnt in europe anyway.

What about GW2Efficiency? It shows the gemstore upgrades on your account, so you could, theoretically, reverse from that to how much money you've spent. Note, I'm not going to do this, I have too accounts with both HoT and PoF, shared inventory slots, unbreakable tools, bank slots, character slots, salvage-o-matics, etc. No, I'm not going to calculate that. Nor am I going to think about the PoF expansion that I bought for my brother. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW! :) (And no, I've never done gold to gems, or gems to gold, so it really has been cash out of my pocket.)

@"Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.2946" said:What about GW2Efficiency? It shows the gemstore upgrades on your account, so you could, theoretically, reverse from that to how much money you've spent. Note, I'm not going to do this, I have too accounts with both HoT and PoF, shared inventory slots, unbreakable tools, bank slots, character slots, salvage-o-matics, etc. No, I'm not going to calculate that. Nor am I going to think about the PoF expansion that I bought for my brother. I DON'T WANT TO KNOW! :) (And no, I've never done gold to gems, or gems to gold, so it really has been cash out of my pocket.)

That's one way to do it, but the tricky part is it doesn't record whether you bought gems with real money or with gold, or if you bought items when they were on sale. So unless you can remember that to factor it in you won't get an accurate count.

@Danikat.8537 said:Gem store history is no good for me, it only shows the past year and I can't remember what was bought with gold purchased gems and what was real money gems.

If I really wanted to find out I'd go through my bank statements and/or emails to find all the transactions. But searching almost 7 years of bank statements (going back to the start of pre-purchase when I bought the game), even online where I can use automated searching to speed it up, sounds like something I'm not going to do without a good reason.

I recommend not doing anything without a good reason.

I started playing about 8 months ago... Im a very irresponsible person when it comes to money. When I see something I want, I just buy it. I think ive spent a little over $3000.00 on this game so far lol.

GW2, USD$1900 so far across 3 years...

not that I don't want to spend, just that Anet haven't put out much enticing new gemstore items, like full armor sets; I absolutely hate outfits for the lack ability to mix and match

The last gemstore items I purchased were

• Cosmic Harvest Tools
• Black Lion Expedition Contract, only because it was dirt cheap
• Name Change Contract
• Wedding Preparation Package, purely after the Name Change Contract
• Kasmeer's Package, very good deal for the gems
• Marjory's Package, very good deal for the gems
• Mistlock Sanctuary Pass, purely because it is more convenient compare to Lily

all the above were purchased while on special

but it is nothing compared to what I had spent on a browser game on facebook, USD$5,000 across 3 years, was in deep depression at that stage of my life back thenit was the only thing that kept me alive from having suicidal thoughts

now reflecting back, I'm still unsure if that 5K was money well spent; probably should have used that money to buy a spanking new PC that does not overheat so I would have played GW2, because I totally missed out so many milestones that came early in the game, like LW S1