Tipping or jump puzzle ports?

I am kind of new, a friend gave me a copy of the game and purchased the expansion for me and I am having a lot of fun so far. He showed me how when there is a daily the mesmers will teleport you to the end of the jumping puzzles. I think it's great! I can do the daily and still do all the jumping puzzles on my own time and take them nice and slow. What does confuse me is I thought I was supposed to tip the mesmers as a thank you? I have been sending money, usually around 50 silver with a thank you note as I do not really have a lot right now. Some times they keep it, but lately I have had a few send the money back and even send more back then I originally sent? For example, I sent some the other day and the player returned it to me but I sent 50 silver and he sent back 51? Am I doing something wrong? Was 50 to little? Is just an on screen thank you all they want? I do not want to seem rude or ungrateful for the portals.

With that 1c extra on the return, who knows...but as a vet player and knowing that these players go out of their way to do this and is a source of income for the time spent not doing regular game stuff, I will send at least 1g when I use their portal or even if I'm on the map and not doing the JP, I will still send them a tip for helping others. I usually don't bother with the JP the rewards ****.

If they send you the tip back, their loss, just move on with playing the game.

OK, thank you!

The mesmer was saying, "thanks, but not thanks; no tip needed." Some are obsessive about not taking money for their services, while others seek every opportunity to profit from simply leaving a character at some location that's hard for others to reach.

Personally, when I arrange ports, I accept any tips sent with a heart "you're welcome, thanks for supporting your friendly neighborhood mesmer." And I pay those funds forward to others, saving the largest amounts for those who help others for little things. e.g. I tend not tip for daily JPs, whereas when I see a mesmer backtrack to help a new player finish a JP (by porting to their last location), I'll tip that mesmer.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:I tend not tip for daily JPs

Same, but that Mesmer who helped me complete Chalice of Tears and got those missing tokens those many moons ago...yeah, he got paaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiidddd.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:I tend not tip for daily JPs

Yes indeed.(And, to clarify my previous point: the person who helped you will likely get a bigger tip from me than the ones that help me, because I really appreciate those who go out of their way for something more than just a hop skip & jump.)

Tipping, the amount of a tip, and whether to accept it are all optional. I figure that if someone saves me a bunch of time to complete my dailies, it's reasonable to send them a small token of thanks, since they could be doing something else that would make them some coin. Some of them are doing things that earn them plenty of coin and are multiboxing to help port the daily on a spare account. Some of them just enjoy helping people and don't want tipped.

For a daily, I typically send 25s with a note along the lines of "Thanks! Something for your time..." If there's a festival going that drops food items, I usually also add one of those, because I have a store built up and it's a bit of seasonal fun. For something like the Not So Secret diving achievement, I scraped all the gold over the nearest hundred off and sent that, because it took me something like two years and finally a patient mesmer to finish that one. I tried to do the same for the kind soul who got me through the Chalice of Tears, and they sent it back, so I sent that gold out into the community in other ways to pay it forward, tipping people who were fun commanders at meta events or patiently helping new folks in map chat or just for saying something that makes me laugh.

Sometimes people send me tips for letting them farm my home instance or for porting or for answering questions. Sometimes I keep them with a note of thanks, and sometimes I send them back, and sometimes, if I get the sense that they're a really new player, I'll send it back with a duplicate dye or mini or level-suitable food buff I have lying around. So don't take getting back more than you send as some kind of commentary on what you sent--it's probably just that they figured out you're relatively new to Tyria, and they want you to feel welcome here.

It was prolly a kind soul socializing on daily JP and porting people just for the sake of porting. I usually grab ecto or a T6 mat for daily JP. You never know if they capped with weekly limit(500 gold), yet mats are unlimited and anyone have a use for them this way or other.

Well, it may just be me, but I don’t tip, or accept tips and always send back. You don’t know if the account that has tipped you RMT’d their gold from an unsavoury outside source. So, it may be far fetched, but you kind of put your account at risk each time you accept gold from anyone you don’t know. Anet has banned players who accept payment for buying fractal/raid runs because the gold was RMT’d, and of course the culprit account.Maybe my mind is overdrive with my account, but I won’t take that chance to make a quick buck.

if I make portal - mostly it for free, and don't keep second mind that someone send me something.I think that is someone want payment he noticed that.

@Haleydawn.3764 said:You don’t know if the account that has tipped you RMT’d their gold from an unsavoury outside source.for 50 silver or 5 gold? Naw.

So, it may be far fetched, but you kind of put your account at risk each time you accept gold from anyone you don’t know.No. Accounts are really not at risk for amounts like that.

Anet has banned players who accept payment for buying fractal/raid runs because the gold was RMT’d, and of course the culprit account.The tales of this happening have been greatly exaggerated. ANet's recently updated policies show a different story. Sure, ANet will take away gold or items sourced from RMT and they'll go after people who take RMT knowingly. They aren't worried about the vast majority of coin or items exchanged between strangers.

I mean: of course you should be safe rather than sorry. Of course if you don't want to risk your account, don't accept anything from strangers. At the same time, it's not nearly as risky as implied above.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781

Hence my last sentence.

I don't think they returned the money because not enough, OP. I mean, I paid 10g the second time that I had to complete the JP in Ember Bay, and I had like 50g in total (because the first time that I completed it alone, I spent too much time and I didn't want to repeat the experience). But daily JPs are easy. You will gain 2g for the whole daily, I don't think people can expect to receive a lot for a port.Nice of you to send a tip, but if they refuse it, it probably means they don't need it, keep it.

Since I like to show my appreciation for the fact that while fun, porting people to a jp is time spent that doesn't give any loot (beyond the jp chest as usual), I tip a little.Since my main motivation to do dailies is the easy 2g, I also don't want to cut too deeply into that. I find 50s to be a good middle ground - the person portaling me essentially removes nearly 1/3 of the work needed for my 2g, getting 1/4 of my reward seems fair.

On the flip side - on the fairly rare occasions that I portal people to jps, I never expect tips! I accept them, and feel really appreciated that they took the time to send something, but it's a veeeerry small minority who does.

Of course, for harder JPs, outside of dailies, I tip more! I thinkbI gave 5 or 10 gold to the person who brought me through Chalice of Tears with the tokens, and something similar to the angel who portaled Not So Secret and coached the dive through several attempts!

Thank you all, it makes a lot more sense now. Everyone has been really nice in game and I was just not sure if there was a minimum that should be tipped and did not want to seem rude or stingy.

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:The mesmer was saying, "thanks, but not thanks; no tip needed." Some are obsessive about not taking money for their services, while others seek every opportunity to profit from simply leaving a character at some location that's hard for others to reach.

I have to admit I can get a little worked up when it's 30 seconds after reset and already there is a mesmer offering portals to the easiest JPs in the game... Now, I know, easy is relative, but it's clear to me the they do it for, as you said, the opportunity to profit. I even went as far as suggesting the disabling of portals in JPs in another thread out of admittedly unreasonable rage.I think it goes without saying that I don't tip at daily JPs, either. :tongue:

@MikeG.6389 said:

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:The mesmer was saying, "thanks, but not thanks; no tip needed." Some are obsessive about not taking money for their services, while others seek every opportunity to profit from simply leaving a character at some location that's hard for others to reach.

Just going to say, not necessarily. Everybody has fun their own way, and while some are probably hoping for profit, i'm sure there are others who simply find it fun and spiritually rewarding to spend a little time helping other players, and make it a regular part of their dailies.

I don't generally tip if I take advantage of one of those casual public portal offerings, though I do tip if the circumstances or effort are exceptional. (HoT HP trains, major PITA JPs, or any time someone goes out of their way to help me specifically.) And sometimes hire mesmers outright for specific tasks. When other people tip me for helping them, it is unexpected and unasked for (an enthusiastic thank you is quite enough) but I am usually too much of a cheapskate to send back the tips. (Some day I will be a better person than that...)

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

Just going to say, not necessarily. Everybody has fun their own way, and while some are probably hoping for profit, i'm sure there are others who simply find it fun and spiritually rewarding to spend a little time helping other players, and make it a regular part of their dailies.

I don't generally tip if I take advantage of one of those casual public portal offerings, though I do tip if the circumstances or effort are exceptional. (HoT HP trains, major PITA JPs, or any time someone goes out of their way to help me specifically.) And sometimes hire mesmers outright for specific tasks. When other people tip me for helping them, it is unexpected and unasked for (an enthusiastic thank you is quite enough) but I am usually too much of a cheapskate to send back the tips. (Some day I will be a better person than that...)

This is indeed true, quite a few mesmers just enjoy the company lol. I have 12 mesmers parked at a couple of different puzzles from easy ones like Morgans Spiral and Spekks Lab to help out new players to the Chalice of Tears and Not So Secret for players after those hard achieves and every day when I log in I stop by on each mesmer and offer ports to people on the map. I don't ask for and half the time don't accept tips because I don't do it for money, just to help foster the community and meet other nice people. Its let me enjoy many a fun conversation and I like getting to help people out since I know many people don't find it fun spending 2 hours in a jumping puzzle only to die on the last jump. ^^"

Any ports I do lay down is just out of simple generosity and assistance to help others get the daily. I don't ask for tips, and it's up to the person's benevolence or how they feel if they want to tip me or not. I'm not sour if I'm not tipped. The joy of helping is enough of a payment to me. That being said, I do tip if I can, and don't feel bad if you can't.

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:Just going to say, not necessarily. Everybody has fun their own way, and while some are probably hoping for profit, i'm sure there are others who simply find it fun and spiritually rewarding to spend a little time helping other players, and make it a regular part of their dailies.

This is me. I port at times - not as much as I could because mesmer's not my main, but tips aren't my reason for doing it. It helps other players, even on the easy JPs, and there's usually some fun chat while hanging around doing the ports. No tips necessary (and I don't expect them either, usually return them - I like the idea upthread of returning the tip plus adding a bit on for new players too, I'll remember that one).On the other side of the equation, I don't often tip at the easy daily JPs - but the person who coached me through getting the dive at the top of Not So Secret, or the one who spent time coaching me through Skipping Stones? Here, my saviours, have much gold. Worth it to me for the time and aggro saved.

@"GodDogz.2175" said:I am kind of new, a friend gave me a copy of the game and purchased the expansion for me and I am having a lot of fun so far. He showed me how when there is a daily the mesmers will teleport you to the end of the jumping puzzles. I think it's great! I can do the daily and still do all the jumping puzzles on my own time and take them nice and slow. What does confuse me is I thought I was supposed to tip the mesmers as a thank you? I have been sending money, usually around 50 silver with a thank you note as I do not really have a lot right now. Some times they keep it, but lately I have had a few send the money back and even send more back then I originally sent? For example, I sent some the other day and the player returned it to me but I sent 50 silver and he sent back 51? Am I doing something wrong? Was 50 to little? Is just an on screen thank you all they want? I do not want to seem rude or ungrateful for the portals.

Hey there,One thing I had to learn was not to take it personally (not that you are) when a tip gets returned. In real life, it is kind of insulting to have a gift returned. However, in GW2 I have found that there are so many "pay per service" and "tips required" in the LFG postings that those who are sending the tips back are doing so because they don't want the community to feel obligated to, or be told to tip, the mesmer who ports them. I think each person who ports has their own philosophy... I once tipped someone and they sent me back magic find food. :smile:

Most of the time the ppl who port are just doing so bc they can traverse the JP quickly and don't mind porting ppl up. Plus, the daily reward is only 1 gold. If you tip 50s, a fully mastered and geared level 80 Mesmer is going to recognize that someone is giving half of their 1 gold earnings to them. That is a lot of silver and gold to lose when we are levelling (including Mastery)! Especially when trying to get Ascended gear and/or build up a bank account.

My suggestion is if you want to keep tipping, do so and if they send it back that's ok ... you at least tried and that particular mesmer said "nah it's on me this time just try to pay it forward in the future."Cheers

@rotheche.2964 said:

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:Just going to say, not necessarily. Everybody has fun their own way, and while some are probably hoping for profit, i'm sure there are others who simply find it fun and spiritually rewarding to spend a little time helping other players, and make it a regular part of their dailies.

I have to agree, most of the daily JPs are relatively straight forward but there are some where I just HAD to tip.... even if they said no. The mesmer in Drytop got a hefty tip, the mesmer in Draconis Mons and Ember Bay got hefty tips as did the mesmer who was at the end of the goggles in Not So Secret (I think I sent a virtual kiss and hug too!)... I still have nightmares about NSS

If a Mesmer returns your tip, he is probably saying "I'm doing this to help people, the reward is helping, not tips". A lot of mesmers are like that. Heck, I've been in a map where a mes was selling ports to the top of a hard JP (Not So Secret), and in under 5 minutes, there were 3 other mesmers offering to do it for free because they felt charging was wrong!

Offering a tip is never wrong, but never feel insulted if the tip is returned.

I don't do ports often, because I suck at jumping puzzles. But if I've made it up and see others below, I'll pop a quick portal just because I can. I don't expect a tip, but it's always nice if someone does. When I was helping a friend with her skyscale, I ported a few grateful people up to the top of that wall in Fireheart Rise.