Feedback to Devs: Convincing a New Player (Me) to Give You More Money

[Kiro Kobra.6478]

 

EDIT: This is an old post, I was a WoW refugee then. Now in 2022, I wholeheartedly disagree with my own statements made here. If you're creeping on my post history, just keep this in mind.

 

ORIGINAL POST BELOW - NOTHING ELSE IS EDITED BEYOND 2022. 

----------------------------------------------------

First of all, I'm really enjoying my time with GW2. I really like that the game respects my time and pretty much every activity has interesting rewards. 

I've been playing MMOs for 11+ years and have decided to make GW2 my new home. 

 

As a new player who has tried many online systems, I'd like to offer some feedback to the GW2 devs on how (I think) the game could be even better and retain even more new players. 

 

I'll start with the part mentioned in the title. As a new player, how can ArenaNet get me to give YOU more money?

 

Cosmetic-focused monthly rewards via an optional subscription.

If there were an option for, say, a $10 USD/month subscription with the following benefits, I'd absolutely sign up!

1. 575 Gems per month to do with as I please
2. Unlimited item transmutations. (yes, even while leveling up, I'd like to maintain "my cool look" when I get a new item).
   • (Having to buy transmutation charges and use them every time I get new gear while leveling up would be very costly... I'd rather not spend any money at all in this case. $10 vs $0... You feel me?)
3. Two "free" dyes every month which are guaranteed to not be duplicates of what I already have
4. Permanent +10% exp on all sub-80 characters
5. Stackable gathering tools, up-to 500 per tool. (No, I'm not asking you to make new tools - just allow the existing ones to stack)

--------------

EDIT: 

Thank you everyone, 

It seems I misunderstood a great deal regarding cosmetic options. 

However, since everyone else is experienced with the game and familiar with the systems, it may be difficult for you all to gauge just how cobbled-together the cosmetics systems are, particularly with a "custom" outfit. I wonder if maybe there needs to be a more in-depth tutorial on the cosmetic systems in the game. There's so many nuggets of info in this thread that I would have never known about just relying on in-game resources. 

 

However my thoughts about loot and crafting remain unchanged lol

--------------

 

Now, moving on to some things that I wish were different...

 

Crafting

When it comes to recipe ingredients, I really wish the crafting system was simplified. Instead of converting, say, bronze ingots into an axe head, and then some wood into the handle, only to then be converted into something else.... Could we just have less items cluttering the crafting menu? 

Instead of the recipe calling for an axe head and handle, it'd be much simpler to call for [X-amount] ingots and [X-amount] wood. 

I understand this conflicts with the Discovery system, but that could easily be fixed by allowing the player to select an "item category" in the Discovery window. So if I wanted to discover a new axe recipe, I'd select the axe category and dump in some ingots, wood, and a gem. 

 

Loot/Activity rewards

Why oh why am I getting loot that my class can't ever use? I wish there were a looting system that only gave relevant rewards. Items dropped from killing things can be left alone, but when I reach the end of a jumping puzzle or unlock an achievement, I shouldn't be "rewarded" with useless stuff for my class. 

I understand that this may not be the case for 80 characters, as acquiring new items can be sent to other characters either for their stats or appearance. But, if I'm playing a sub-80 character, I shouldn't be getting a staff or cloth shoulders on my Warrior...

 

 

Closing thoughts...

The ideas and opinions expressed in this post are based on several years of MMO experience and deciding for myself what aspects of a game make a positive or negative experience as a new player. I really like GW2 and will continue to play it regardless of this feedback being considered - but just know this: The loot and crafting for new players could use some work. And if you want me to spend $10 instead of $0 in your gem store, please be aware that cosmetic-focused rewards are VERY appealing to a lot of people. Seriously, I'm the kind of player that would rather look cool than have optimal stats... I'd spend a few extra bucks if I could have the best of both worlds ;) 

 

As a gentle reminder for non-Devs reading this, I'm a newbie here and just expressing my thoughts about the game in a constructive way. My experiences with the GW2 community thus-far has been very pleasant and welcoming, so I hope that trend continues and that any feedback I get is cordial and constructive. 

Edited February 3, 2022 by Kiro Kobra.6478

[yoni.7015]

No thanks to a monthly subscription. You can just buy every month something in the gem store. 

[Super Hayes.6890]

There already is an "optional" subscription fee. Buy a set amount of gems per month and do what you like with them.

[sewenewes.4176]

3 minutes ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

If there were an option for, say, a $10 USD/month subscription with the following benefits, I'd absolutely sign up!

1. 575 Gems per month to do with as I please
2. Unlimited item transmutations. (yes, even while leveling up, I'd like to maintain "my cool look" when I get a new item).
   • (Having to buy transmutation charges and use them every time I get new gear while leveling up would be very costly... I'd rather not spend any money at all in this case. $10 vs $0... You feel me?)
3. Two "free" dyes every month which are guaranteed to not be duplicates of what I already have
4. Permanent +10% exp on all sub-80 characters
5. Stackable gathering tools, up-to 500 per tool. (No, I'm not asking you to make new tools - just allow the existing ones to stack)

 

The reason they don't do this is because they (any company running non-subscription live service games, really) make more money targeting the big spenders and gambling addicts. They aren't bothered that you don't spend ten dollars a month because their whales spend thousands and their dolphins spend hundreds. Gathering tools don't stack to sell you either permanent gathering tools or extra bag space. Preferably both. Experience boosters are fairly easy to come by and they'd rather have you just splurge on the instant level eighty boost anyway. Dyes are part of the system targeting gamblers and it's very deliberate that you can get duplicate dyes even when you spend actual cash on gemstore dye packs.

 

It's not a consumer friendly way to run a game but because many people aren't willing to pay a subscription (or subscribe to more than one game at a time) game studios are left with having to make money from live service games through such methods.

[Kiro Kobra.6478]

Maintaining a cosmetic appearance while on a sub-80 character would be very costly, since you're swapping new gear all the time as you progress. That's assuming you don't make a mistake or discover a new appearance/setup. My point with the optional subscription would be to circumvent that issue with unlimited transmutations. 

[Linken.6345]

31 minutes ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Maintaining a cosmetic appearance while on a sub-80 character would be very costly, since you're swapping new gear all the time as you progress. That's assuming you don't make a mistake or discover a new appearance/setup. My point with the optional subscription would be to circumvent that issue with unlimited transmutations. 

And that is why the made outfits a one size fits all jump suit that dont change when you change gear under it.

About your comment of useless loot your supposed to haul around salvage kits, break the items down and send materials to your material storage by the cog in the top right of your inventory call deposit all.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

If you want to maintain a look while leveling then there are options.
 

Two of them

1) you can buy an outfit from the gemstore using the gems you would have used to pay for a subscription 

2) buy a Endless Common Clothing Tonic  for a few silver. You can take it to Black Lion Trader (Merchant)  who will make it an account wide outfit. 
 

both of these options allow you to keep the same appearance while leveling and not use transformation charges. 

[Kiro Kobra.6478]

  

14 minutes ago, Just a flesh wound.3589 said:

If you want to maintain a look while leveling then there are options.
 

Two of them

1) you can buy an outfit from the gemstore using the gems you would have used to pay for a subscription 

2) buy a Endless Common Clothing Tonic  for a few silver. You can take it to Black Lion Trader (Merchant)  who will make it an account wide outfit. 
 

both of these options allow you to keep the same appearance while leveling and not use transformation charges. 

 

1) What if none of the pre-made outfits suit my taste? What if I want a different color scheme?

2) Isn't that useless for leveling? Additionally it looks pretty.... lame. "You will be unable to fight while transformed." 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Kiro Kobra.6478

[Kiro Kobra.6478]

17 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

And that is why the made outfits a one size fits all jump suit that dont change when you change gear under it.

About your comment of useless loot your supposed to haul around salvage kits, break the items down and send materials to your material storage by the cog in the top right of your inventory call deposit all.

I'd understand that for random NPC drops, but chests and achievement loot? The game is essentially rewarding me with crafting reagents instead of helping my character progress or at the very least unlock skins for my actual armor type. It just seems very underwhelming. 

[Danikat.8537]

I don't like the idea of an "optional" subscription even for seemingly trivial things like transmutation charges because I've seen how that goes in my other MMO. People will pay for it then complain endlessly that it's not enough and they 'deserve' more for the money they've already decided to spend, so more and more QoL updates which should be part of the base game are instead reserved for subscribers, which makes it considerably less optional and more of a requirement to play.

 

I'd much rather Anet stick to one-time payments, if you think a particular item or feature is useful you buy it and then it's there whenever you want to use it.

 

54 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

And that is why the made outfits a one size fits all jump suit that dont change when you change gear under it.

About your comment of useless loot your supposed to haul around salvage kits, break the items down and send materials to your material storage by the cog in the top right of your inventory call deposit all.

You can also sell items via the Trading Post window from anywhere in the world to get them out your inventory.

 

Personally I like that my characters can pick up equipment which is useful to other characters. Especially because it's relatively quick and easy to get BiS equipment (or exotics, which are second-best but good enough for almost everything) and after that drops which are only useful for that character would be useless. Being able to get stuff I can pass to other characters makes it much more likely a drop will be useful.

 

39 minutes ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

  1) What if none of the pre-made outfits suit my taste? What if I want a different color scheme?

2) Isn't that useless for leveling? Additionally it looks pretty.... lame. "You will be unable to fight while transformed." 

1) All outfits are dyable so the colour scheme is irrelevant.

 

2) As @Just a flesh wound.3589said you can take the tonic to an NPC to turn it into an outfit, which can then be used in combat (and dyed).

 

It's a convoluted system because it was put in place to preserve the item through a series of system changes, so it was only designed to work for people who already had it in one form, rather than going through the whole process, but it works.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Danikat.8537

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

First, the permanent 10% XP boost.  See the bartender in you guild hall.  The XP boost from him is free and lasts until you change it to one of the other boosters.  Lastly, it is not level locked or limited, so, you can run it on your level 2 toon that just finished the intro story instance. 

 

Rarely, at any point in the game, are the loot drops helpful for your specific character.  Loot and leveling rewards are always a hodge podge of condi gear and power gear.  It really doesn't do you any good to run a power scepter on a condi necro (PvE...there can be a place for it in other game modes).  Personally, I don't care too much about weapons and armor as I'm leveling - once I choose a set, if something drops that is better, I will switch it out, but, otherwise don't worry about it.  Once I'm at level 80, that's an entirely different story - I choose my build and optimize my armor and weapons for it, frequently crafting what I want and need.

 

I understand fashion wars is huge, but, save that for after level 80.  Optimally, you'd be changing out gear ever 10 levels.  Instead, use that time to test out fashion ideas and try different looks with what is free, save those transmutation charges for later, when you really need them.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Welcome to Tyria!

 

You are, understandably, just new to the game.  Your opinions will likely change once you learn how the game works.

 

A subscription, of any kind, is unlikely to happen as it is not very popular with the playerbase.  You can get anything in the Gem Store with the Gold-to-Gems exchange. 

 

For instance, Outfits include dye channels so you can dye them any way you like.

The aforementioned Tonic is exchanged for an Outfit, as stated above.

 

Loot that your character can not use, can be sold, or salvaged and the mats sold for Gold.  You can then buy gear your character can use; or, you can use Gold to exchange for Gems and purchase the desired Transmutation Charges.  Also, Transmutation Charges are quite easy to come by in-game.

 

The Wiki (link above) is a great resource for all things Guild Wars 2, and can answer almost any question.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Inculpatus cedo.9234

[Fuchslein.8639]

This seems a lot to me, for just 10 bucks considering that you get episodes and content for free on release oo.

I don't like it when people say that but ... would that be profitable for Anet?
Their biggest source of income(the only source, besides cheap or free expansions ad merch(?)) is the Gemshop and I bet there are a lot of trans-loads in there as well.

I wish the stuff in the Gem-shop was a bit cheaper, because then I would be more willing to pay for online graphic pixels.
But that?

I wouldn't mind an optional subscription for people who are up for it. But that should also be realistic.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Fuchslein.8639

[Sylvyn.4750]

36 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

 

A subscription, of any kind, is unlikely to happen as it is not very popular with the playerbase.  You can get anything in the Gem Store with the Gold-to-Gems exchange. 

 

Aren't the occasional Black Lion Supply Drop Requisitions we've had, such as for the 9th Anniversary, 8th Anniversary, War Eternal, New Horizons, etc., considered a subscription of goods, primarily cosmetic, similar to what the OP is requesting, but delivered weekly over the course of 4 weeks?  I think the "any kind" has already been broached...

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

1 hour ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

  

 

1) What if none of the pre-made outfits suit my taste? What if I want a different color scheme?

2) Isn't that useless for leveling? Additionally it looks pretty.... lame. "You will be unable to fight while transformed." 

 

You should look into the dye system in this game. You can dye armor, outfits, mounts and some backpacks/wings. I don’t know how many dyes this game has but there are a fair number. 
 

You can fight while wearing account bound outfits. Convert it by taking it to the the Merchant listed in my post, add it to your wardrobe then you can dye it. 


edit: one way to get free transmutation charges is to farm them. Take a character to a racial city and complete exploration and you’ll get a charge. You can do all five racial cities and get 5 charges. You can even create a char to do that and delete it afterwards. 
 

or you can do WvW/PvP and get free Transformation charges from reward tracks 
 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Just a flesh wound.3589

[Sobx.1758]

2 hours ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Cosmetic-focused monthly rewards via an optional subscription.

There's no point of "cosmetic-focused monthly rewards via optional subscription" when you can already just make a choice to spend your money every month on cosmetics that are available in the gemstore.

2 hours ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Unlimited item transmutations. (yes, even while leveling up, I'd like to maintain "my cool look" when I get a new item)

[...]

EDIT:  For those saying "just buy gems every month".... Maintaining a cosmetic appearance while on a sub-80 character would be very costly (muuuch more than $10/mo), since you're swapping new gear all the time as you progress. That's assuming you don't make a mistake or discover a new appearance/setup. My point with the optional subscription would be to circumvent that issue with unlimited transmutations. Because of the costly nature of maintaining an appearance, I'd rather not spend any money at all. But if this were an option, I'd happily spend $10/mo. 

Outfits.

2 hours ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Stackable gathering tools, up-to 500 per tool. (No, I'm not asking you to make new tools - just allow the existing ones to stack)

Unlimited/unbreakable tools are already a thing.

It seems most/everything you're asking for here is already in the game through you spending gems/money in gemstore and since that's what you claim you want to do... You're just trying to add extra steps for no reason here.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Sobx.1758

[Kiro Kobra.6478]

Thank you everyone, 

 

It seems I misunderstood a great deal regarding cosmetic options. 

However, since everyone else is experienced with the game and familiar with the systems, I wonder if maybe there needs to be a more in-depth tutorial on the cosmetic systems in the game. There's so many nuggets of info in this thread that I would have never known about just relying on in-game resources. 

 

However my thoughts about loot and crafting remain unchanged lol

[Linken.6345]

7 minutes ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Thank you everyone, 

 

It seems I misunderstood a great deal regarding cosmetic options. 

However, since everyone else is experienced with the game and familiar with the systems, I wonder if maybe there needs to be a more in-depth tutorial on the cosmetic systems in the game. There's so many nuggets of info in this thread that I would have never known about just relying on in-game resources. 

 

However my thoughts about loot and crafting remain unchanged lol

Gw2 is horrible with any tutorial at all and even if they added it people would probabely click past those just as they do the level up reward hints right?

[Seera.5916]

1. Crafting.

 

Mostly done the way it is due to the limitation of 4 items per crafting item. Or if an item would be used in multiple different recipes.

 

2. Loot.

 

Alts, selling on the trading post/vendor, salvaging for mats. All things that items you don't need or want can be used for.

 

If I recall correctly, things do get weighted for your class. But RNG is RNG.

[Rogue.8235]

8 hours ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Loot/Activity rewards

Why oh why am I getting loot that my class can't ever use? I wish there were a looting system that only gave relevant rewards. Items dropped from killing things can be left alone, but when I reach the end of a jumping puzzle or unlock an achievement, I shouldn't be "rewarded" with useless stuff for my class. 

I understand that this may not be the case for 80 characters, as acquiring new items can be sent to other characters either for their stats or appearance. But, if I'm playing a sub-80 character, I shouldn't be getting a staff or cloth shoulders on my Warrior...

One thing that helps is to view loot drops differently for this MMO.

Think of them as raw materials, not finished goods to be used as is.  Raw materials are the cornerstones of the in-game economy.  They can be used in many different ways so they're in high demand.  This means they sell very quickly when you list them and or bought very quickly when you list a buy order.  

Salvaging all that gear also helps you attain more magic find which increases the quality of loot dropped by mobs.

Edit: As a new player, sell the rare (yellow) and exotic (orange) gear for a quick injection of gold.  They aren't necessary while leveling.  Don't worry about exotic gear until you are level 80 and know what stats you want to kit out in.

You can read about the magic find system here

You can read about increasing your magic find from salvaging here

8 hours ago, Kiro Kobra.6478 said:

Crafting

When it comes to recipe ingredients, I really wish the crafting system was simplified. Instead of converting, say, bronze ingots into an axe head, and then some wood into the handle, only to then be converted into something else.... Could we just have less items cluttering the crafting menu? 

Instead of the recipe calling for an axe head and handle, it'd be much simpler to call for [X-amount] ingots and [X-amount] wood. 

I understand this conflicts with the Discovery system, but that could easily be fixed by allowing the player to select an "item category" in the Discovery window. So if I wanted to discover a new axe recipe, I'd select the axe category and dump in some ingots, wood, and a gem. 

The Crafting system is pretty complex, you're not imagining it.  However, Jewler, Artificer, Hunstman, Weaponsmith, Armorsmith, Leatherworker, and Tailor are very consistent in how they work.  Once you figure out how the system works you can reliably figure out new things.  Gear requires two components plus a stat compenent (insignia, inscription, or jewel).  Special gear requires a fourth special item which varies widely depending on the special item.

Chef is something I dabble in rarely and I still don't fully understand it.  Mostly because I'm not a great cook in real life, and ArenaNet devs tried to make it similar to real life cooking.  I've seen some players on this forum explain how it's sensible.  

Oh and quick tangent.  I've tried torching Moas, but they don't turn into fried chicken.  😭

As for the proposed changes, They seem nice but this is a fundamental system that ArenaNet will most likely not overhaul.  I'm not sure if there's a tutorial in-game that can help players ease into the system.  This might be worth investigating.

Edited August 31, 2021 by Rogue.8235

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Here are some resources you may or may not find informative:

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/new-player-guide

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

 

[Ratnoon.4251]

2 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Here are some resources you may or may not find informative:

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/new-player-guide

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

 

Thank you for the share man! Appreciate it. Hope it was helpful to OP.

[DeanBB.4268]

The only thing I can think to add is that there are a great number of cheap dyes available on the trading post, if you haven't already discovered them. So you can easily expand your color choices by spending coppers and silvers on dyes.