Achievement locked behind rng? Thanks anet

Maybe I am missing something. But the merchandise collector visage is pretty obsolete and unattainable other than doing 2 hours of metas with very low chance of receiving? Am I not mistaken?

Please let me know if I am but I have done pvp reward track and halfway through wvw one for grothmar valley as well as I have done daily meta grind since it has come out... And the only way I am going to get this merchandise collector achievement is if I get amazing luck out of a 2 hour meta grind once a day with a rng % that we don't even know (and I am assuming it is not very high either considering the TP has quick buy at 6k and a high bid of 3k). I'm kinda bored of these "Show me your wealth achievements/congratulations on the .000001% rng roll". Not to mention dragonfall I LOVE those skins but you say oh you will get 1 (OUT OF 12 SKINS!) if you open 1,000 chests is it? hahahahahaha, and then after that you have to believe in RNG. And then your solution to that problem is, "Okay we will make them available in MORE options such as... Zephy boxes in the SUPER RARE category." I have a better chance at a 2k gem store mount than getting a set of these 12 skins I love that you spent lots of time making, and no one can access them all. And if people do have that whole scion collection... By god I want to know what your algorhythms are for that because my account sure is not receiving them lol. I have helped lead those champ trains, the meta events and everything and... 0... 0 skins. It makes me not want to even play the game but your incentive is "Go play the game and test your rng out." No thanks. I'm sorry anet, but I hope you take heed to people like me, and you don't want this to be a complete grind fest. This is WORSE than a grindfest because of low chance rng boxes. This is WORSE than lootboxes because "here is the 1 rare unid for doing 2 hours of metas…" OOOF. Big oof.

I enjoy the game, but this "Lock everything behind super rare chance" loot boxes is not finding it worth to play the game. Maybe it is just I.

@"Kameko.8314" said:Maybe I am missing something. But the merchandise collector visage is pretty obsolete and unattainable other than doing 2 hours of metas with very low chance of receiving? Am I not mistaken?You can (theoretically) buy them on the trading post.

As for having (a very few) items/achievements that can't be gotten guaranteed in the space of 2 weeks, you probably have to thank your fellow players for that who have been crying "new episodes only ever last for two hours" quite loudly.

I honestly don't mind the rare skins being a thing, like the Chak Egg Sac. What I do mind is tying it to an achievement. Up until now I had 100% completion on my Story Journal category...which was hard work, but fun. Now to have this Merchandise Collector thrown in, ugh. It's just never going to realistically get completed with these drop rates, and is going to be forever a scar on my achievements. It wouldn't even be fun to try for it because it'd be either spending around 20,000 gold (which I don't have), or doing a 2 hour meta every day for probably forever. For people who play primarily focused on achievement completion this is the worst. Please fix this anet! Take those visage skins off the achievement or make them more realistic to acquire.

Just wait some time and they will be cheaper on TP

Black Lion Collection achievements are locked behind ingame and/or real money. Thanks, Anet.There is the "I'm rich you know" title that costs 1000 gold coins. Thanks, Anet.

Some things are much harder to get than others. It has always been so and there is nothing wrong with it.

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@"Kameko.8314" said:Maybe I am missing something. But the merchandise collector visage is pretty obsolete and unattainable other than doing 2 hours of metas with very low chance of receiving? Am I not mistaken?You can (theoretically) buy them on the trading post.

You can create longterm rewarding/repeatable content without making something absurdly rare to get though. Fractals do this quite decently, especially with Account Augmentations. There's a guaranteed way for people to get these, it just takes time and effort.This helmet is so rare, that there has been one listing on the trading post so far. And it's gone again.

@"MikeG.6389" said:Black Lion Collection achievements are locked behind ingame and/or real money. Thanks, Anet.There is the "I'm rich you know" title that costs 1000 gold coins. Thanks, Anet.

Some things are much harder to get than others. It has always been so and there is nothing wrong with it.

Those are both locked behind gold ( or gems ). The helmet is so rare, that it was listed once. If it's so rare, that there's no supply of it on the TP, even if it would cost thousands of gold, then it's bad.Besides, this is the first piece of cultural armor we have gotten in years, after people had been asking for new cultural armor for the longest time. And now aside from the charr-only aspect, barely anyone will ever get to see it anyway. If it was a general thing like an infusion, I would understand. But this feels quite mean to any player who had hoped to get some new cultural armor at some point. Like "here you go, but you still can't get it."

Yes, I get the "I'm rich you know" title. I get that is in the game but as it states it has a lot to do with 'I'm spending 1-2k gold for this achievement'. And it has 0 to do with a story, event, etc. If they move it out of story journal then okay maybe it's not so bad. But as someone pointed out. I do like my story journal to be clean and pretty with the achieved. I get things are 'to be hard' and I would LOVE to do hard things but I DONT want it locked behind rng. I don't mind egg sac being a rare infusion and not many have, that's cool. The weapons have gone down in price because of the easy access from pvp/wvw so it's not valuable.

I would a) like them to either add the visage to the reward tracks or b) just take it out of the achievement requirement.I am not afraid to do 'hard things' to require achievements and have done so. What I am afraid though is of that "Pay up big or don't achieve"

I feel like they are going to do this with a new norn helm as well in the future of this saga. And there will be a repeat situation like this one. I just hope it isn't a continuing trend. Again, another instance is those scion things and people say "Work hard for it." There is nothing to work hard for... It is just a mere luck of the draw and you CANT buy those skins which is even worse. Kinda like teq skins. I thought it would be like one of those lessons learned, but it was like "Nope just tuck it in for a later date and time."

This is just a small piece of the puzzle that I'm fighting for. I love to collect skins and all that, so the fact that I cannot get access to them pretty skins unless I get that 1/100 chance and doing it 12 times over makes me sad. Anyway sorry for the rant.

@Kameko.8314 said:I do like my story journal to be clean and pretty with the achieved.So this is really just about you deciding that some random part of the achievement journal should be clearable by you within 10 days after release?

There's nothing tied to this achievement really, you can get the reward easily from other content (reward tracks), and it doesn't block the meta achievement completion, as that has a lot of spare room to choose which achievements to do. As for what ANet might do with future skins, they usually listen to feedback and react on it in future updates if it's reasonable and matches their numbers, so if the helmet really is a problem, then I doubt they'll go the same way with other exclusive skins anytime soon.

@Jesse.5029 said:

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@"Kameko.8314" said:Maybe I am missing something. But the merchandise collector visage is pretty obsolete and unattainable other than doing 2 hours of metas with very low chance of receiving? Am I not mistaken?You can (theoretically) buy them on the trading post.

@Domosquawk.6518 said:I honestly don't mind the rare skins being a thing, like the Chak Egg Sac. What I do mind is tying it to an achievement. Up until now I had 100% completion on my Story Journal category...which was hard work, but fun. Now to have this Merchandise Collector thrown in, ugh. It's just never going to realistically get completed with these drop rates, and is going to be forever a scar on my achievements. It wouldn't even be fun to try for it because it'd be either spending around 20,000 gold (which I don't have), or doing a 2 hour meta every day for probably forever. For people who play primarily focused on achievement completion this is the worst. Please fix this anet! Take those visage skins off the achievement or make them more realistic to acquire.

This pretty much sums it up . . .

It's not that there is a rare skin, and it's not that the skin is tied to an achievement, it's that the skin is tied to an achievement that is included in the story meta. The reason this is a problem is that while anet produces content intended for a variety of players -- not all of which is meant for everyone -- they have established that the story and festival metas are meant for everyone and have consistently nerfed content to accommodate that guiding principle. Now they make a cheeve that's included in the meta that has through the first two weeks been literally impossible for any player to complete . . .

Even ignoring that, there's just the practical side of it. There are seventy-six cheeves for the story, seventy-two of which are included in the meta. Why include one that is impossible to complete two weeks in and will only ever be completed by a tiny fraction of players? Why make the reward for the achievement something that everyone who completes it would have already obtained? I'm not just saying that it doesn't make any sense, I'm pointing out that it's something that no one would ever intentionally do. The only explanation is that there was some error or oversight in either the drop rate for the item, including the item in the cheeve or including the cheeve in the meta . . .

Given historical precedent, I think it's unlikely anet will ever correct or even address this issue. It's possible that they already have a plan in place, that perhaps they have some future content that will give access to these items in some other way, just as the chilis could possibly transform from inventory clutter to become a useful currency in future eps. But it seems more likely that the situation with this achievement is just more evidence that they have released content that was still 'under construction' in a rush to appease impatient players :/

Isn't it an option to completing the meta?
I'm pretty close to completing the meta, and I'm not even trying for that particular achievement.

The vast majority of Collections achievements are locked behind RNG. How is this at all any different, let alone worse?

I don't believe this is the first time this has been done either...it's just that this time it's a cultural armor item that people want, there's others that have been done the same way...and they've also been story based.

There's also achievements that have you collect trophies from world bosses and localized bosses, like the centaur boss ponytail.Those are rare, and expensive.Good luck

(Aka, nothing new)

ANet might listen to your request, OP. I would not hold my breath. ANet (and all other MMO developers, tbh) uses barriers to getting stuff done quickly to give people reasons to play long-term. This is the nature of the MMO beast.

If ANet does not do as you wish, the best way to deal with such tactics is to do what you want in the game, and let the AP come (or not) as they do. Of course, if your fun in playing the game consists solely or even mostly in racking up achievements, yeah, that could be a problem. The best advice I have for a player-end solution is to stop caring about getting achievements on a self-imposed time frame. Alternatively, stop caring about achievements. Finally, and most extreme, stop caring about the game. Your peace of mind is more important than a video game.

I would be fine with this achievement if the completion reward were better than a T-shirt.

We have a very costly achievement Treasure Hunter which is very similar to this one. The reward for completing it is a special chest that is added to the home instance and can be opened daily. It most likely won't pay off the cost of rare drops if you buy them from TP, but this chest 1) cannot be obtained elsewhere and 2) somewhat reflects the effort put into the collection itself.

The new Merchandise Collector is much more expensive than Treasure Hunter, at least now, and mostly due to helmets with ridiculously low drop rates. And it would be fine if I could get something like metal band concert in my home instance. However, what we are getting for completion is a T-shirt, that is cheaper than even the new VIP title. This feels very wrong, maybe even insulting.

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@"Kameko.8314" said:Maybe I am missing something. But the merchandise collector visage is pretty obsolete and unattainable other than doing 2 hours of metas with very low chance of receiving? Am I not mistaken?You can (theoretically) buy them on the trading post.

Right, blame the players and not the developers; I'm not aware of anyone who specifically asked for absurd RNG, on the other hand, we all know who decided it should be here. This achievement doesn't change the fact LW episodes have too little content given there's only a few of them each year, with no other content updates between them. This doesn't even take into account ANet benefits from some things being too expensive in order to get money from what developers call "Whales".

Even if you want to talk about making people re-play the same events over and over, there's already other ways to do it; but hey, it's far cheaper to create a loot box drop, give it an absurdly low drop rate, and let people like you say the player base created the problem.

If this achievement were in the collections tab, I’m sure there would be less complaints.

Yes, I don't mind it being in a collection tab . That's fine, it would be something I can set aside. :)

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:Isn't it an option to completing the meta?

I'm pretty close to completing the meta, and I'm not even trying for that particular achievement.

Which is exactly the point, if you'll read the post just above yours . . .

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:The vast majority of Collections achievements are locked behind RNG. How is this at all any different, let alone worse?

It's part of the story meta . . .

@Zaklex.6308 said:I don't believe this is the first time this has been done either...it's just that this time it's a cultural armor item that people want, there's others that have been done the same way...and they've also been story based.

Nope. Closest precedent is the sigil of nullification collection, which was remedied with the introduction of sigil crafting . . .

@Ayakaru.6583 said:There's also achievements that have you collect trophies from world bosses and localized bosses, like the centaur boss ponytail.Those are rare, and expensive.Good luck

(Aka, nothing new)

That would have been a great place to put this achievement . . .

@Jayden Reese.9542 said:It's one achieve worth one point. Once in a while they add some nonsense or insane collection or title that no one but a few care about or the very rich can get so they feel they accomplished something and feel special. Don't bother with it. It isn't blocking any progress. You legit need 3 visage boxes not one btw so 5 dudes will get this achieve. Grats to them.

I agree that not being able to complete the achievement isn't a big deal . . .

@Ayrilana.1396 said:If this achievement were in the collections tab, I’m sure there would be less complaints.

Exactly . . .

I think the point he is trying to make is when you spend hundreds of hours grinding metas you at least want to be rewarded with something special eventually otherwise people get bored and stop playing.

@Gop.8713 said:

@"Konig Des Todes.2086" said:The vast majority of

Collections

achievements are locked behind RNG. How is this at all any different, let alone worse?

But not explicitly required. Unlike War Eternal's meta achievement, this one has leeway. You need to complete 57 out of 69 available achievements for the meta. That's 12 achievements you can ignore for the meta achievement.

It may count to the story meta, but it by no means is needed for it.

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

@Gop.8713 said:

@Konig Des Todes.2086 said:The vast majority of

Collections

achievements are locked behind RNG. How is this at all any different, let alone worse?

it's actually 54 of 72, but other than that yes I'm happy to see that you agree with my point. It's unfortunate that anet does not . . .

I mean, what is the point to create infusions and skins that only few people can get ?This is extra work for devs that could be used elsewhere.

Not so long ago you told us that creating cultural armor sets take way too much time. Then you made some with crazy rng behind it. I don't get it.

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@"Kameko.8314" said:Maybe I am missing something. But the merchandise collector visage is pretty obsolete and unattainable other than doing 2 hours of metas with very low chance of receiving? Am I not mistaken?You can (theoretically) buy them on the trading post.As for having (a very few) items/achievements that can't be gotten guaranteed in the space of 2 weeks, you probably have to thank your fellow players for that who have been crying "new episodes only ever last for two hours" quite loudly.

Surrre, because grinding does make make an episode "longer." Not. ;) You had to grind on all previous episodes' maps, yet you would eventually reach your goal - something that can't be said about the Visage of the Khan-Ur.