Just My TL:DR 2 cents: It's an insulting cash grab. We've got two accounts, me and the hubby, and we have spent...a lot of money in the Gem store (I must win the Fashion Wars!). So much so that there are time when I feel the need to hide the credit card bills cause I may have spent far more than I should have (think hundreds....in total: thousands of dollars).We have happily spent that money because GW2 has given us everything we wanted in WoW without a monthly subscription, true QoL improvements (Heck, release GW2 Version had things that made us both abandoned WoW immediately even though we had 7 totally accounts between us.) We felt fine spending a lot a month to WoW for half the quality of GW2 so spending that same (pulse more) in the Gem store was our way of....Paying the way for those people who aren't in the same financial position that we are. It costs money, every month, for GW2 to just sit there on a server (even if its not turned on). To pay the bills you as a company need micro-transactions, and for what you provide in the f2p and expansions, those micro-transactions are paid by us happily to help fun further expansions and development. But we expect to get something for it. The RNG on the Black Lion chests and Dyes....that's fine. They're low cost when it comes to Gems and if someone of a tighter budget really wants to try to get something, the lower gem cost is easier to farm for when it comes to Gold conversion. Mounts though are to PoF....They're like the gliders were to HoT. You have some super special gliders that can be found in Black Lion chests but in the whole if there was a glider we wanted in the Gem store we could buy it out right. You've RNG gated your mounts behind a pay wall. Mounts are PoF's shtick. Just as Gliders were for HoT. Yes, take some super special mounts and put them as RNG in the Black Lion Chests, but maintain the expectations of quality and service you set with HoT. Provide a majority of your skins by direct purchase. We must be honest here. Mounts are the bee nee's. Everyone wants to have skins and colors and all the shinies! That is apart of the game play that is GW2. The other part of GW2 is the fact that there are multiple ways to get everything in the game. You can buy it on the AH, get it through achievements, do quests, farm for gold and exchange for gems, buy gems outright....Locking the mainstay item of your expansions behind a RNG gate with 400 gem cost can be perceived as nothing but a cash grab. You need cash? I know there are a lot of abandonment skins floating around in peoples work folders. Polish those up and put them on the Gem store for direct buy. We'll buy them, we'll farm for the gold, ask our spouse, rob the kids piggy bank, whatever. We will help you take care of the bills because a vast majority of us adore GW2 and how much ya'll have offered to us through this game. But this RNG 400 gem Mount game is a really sheisty disrespectful way to pay the bills where honesty and offering to "clean the gutters" would have gotten you what you needed with everyone, generally, happy in the end.
Just My TL:DR 2 cents: It's an insulting cash grab. We've got two accounts, me and the hubby, and we have spent...a lot of money in the Gem store (I must win the Fashion Wars!). So much so that there are time when I feel the need to hide the credit card bills cause I may have spent far more than I should have (think hundreds....in total: thousands of dollars).We have happily spent that money because GW2 has given us everything we wanted in WoW without a monthly subscription, true QoL improvements (Heck, release GW2 Version had things that made us both abandoned WoW immediately even though we had 7 totally accounts between us.) We felt fine spending a lot a month to WoW for half the quality of GW2 so spending that same (pulse more) in the Gem store was our way of....Paying the way for those people who aren't in the same financial position that we are. It costs money, every month, for GW2 to just sit there on a server (even if its not turned on). To pay the bills you as a company need micro-transactions, and for what you provide in the f2p and expansions, those micro-transactions are paid by us happily to help fun further expansions and development. But we expect to get something for it. The RNG on the Black Lion chests and Dyes....that's fine. They're low cost when it comes to Gems and if someone of a tighter budget really wants to try to get something, the lower gem cost is easier to farm for when it comes to Gold conversion. Mounts though are to PoF....They're like the gliders were to HoT. You have some super special gliders that can be found in Black Lion chests but in the whole if there was a glider we wanted in the Gem store we could buy it out right. You've RNG gated your mounts behind a pay wall. Mounts are PoF's shtick. Just as Gliders were for HoT. Yes, take some super special mounts and put them as RNG in the Black Lion Chests, but maintain the expectations of quality and service you set with HoT. Provide a majority of your skins by direct purchase. We must be honest here. Mounts are the bee nee's. Everyone wants to have skins and colors and all the shinies! That is apart of the game play that is GW2. The other part of GW2 is the fact that there are multiple ways to get everything in the game. You can buy it on the AH, get it through achievements, do quests, farm for gold and exchange for gems, buy gems outright....Locking the mainstay item of your expansions behind a RNG gate with 400 gem cost can be perceived as nothing but a cash grab. You need cash? I know there are a lot of abandonment skins floating around in peoples work folders. Polish those up and put them on the Gem store for direct buy. We'll buy them, we'll farm for the gold, ask our spouse, rob the kids piggy bank, whatever. We will help you take care of the bills because a vast majority of us adore GW2 and how much ya'll have offered to us through this game. But this RNG 400 gem Mount game is a really sheisty disrespectful way to pay the bills where honesty and offering to "clean the gutters" would have gotten you what you needed with everyone, generally, happy in the end.
