Guild Wars 2 gear and weapon aesthetics

[Splat.7981]

Hello everyone. 

As a new player i didn't had much time to sink into the game as much as i would like to but i was wondering something.

 

The game as a cash shop, mount skins, weapon skins, even armor skins and other stuff is there to anyone that wishes to buy them of course, in terms of the gear and weapons i would imagine that those are to make the character look cool or even a kitten  , i was wondering if by playing the game itself, going through dungeons, raids and other content one can obtain good looking gear and weapons or the most flashier ones and even the most cooler ones are only in the store itself and all the other stuff obtainable in the game looks and feels bland? 

 

Sorry for asking this but as  a new player and before i do invest myself entirely to GW 2 i have to know how much they monetize the aesthetics of gear and weapons compared to the ones that a player can farm or obtain in the game by doing actual content.

 

[Orack.4825]

25 minutes ago, Splat.7981 said:

Hello everyone. 

As a new player i didn't had much time to sink into the game as much as i would like to but i was wondering something.

 

The game as a cash shop, mount skins, weapon skins, even armor skins and other stuff is there to anyone that wishes to buy them of course, in terms of the gear and weapons i would imagine that those are to make the character look cool or even a kitten  , i was wondering if by playing the game itself, going through dungeons, raids and other content one can obtain good looking gear and weapons or the most flashier ones and even the most cooler ones are only in the store itself and all the other stuff obtainable in the game looks and feels bland? 

 

Sorry for asking this but as  a new player and before i do invest myself entirely to GW 2 i have to know how much they monetize the aesthetics of gear and weapons compared to the ones that a player can farm or obtain in the game by doing actual content.

 

From what I know you can get many weapon skin hiding here and there, achievement, some heart in LS3, rare drop like ambrit in S2, etc..
For armor I know about cultural and some standart one, but dunno if we've as much of them as we've for free weapon skin.
That said, they need to make money in a way so I wouldn't be shock if they wasn't that many cool base armor.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You can find the galleries and how to obtain each item here:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armor

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gallery_of_weapons

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gem_Store#Style

 

[Lyssia.4637]

3 hours ago, Splat.7981 said:

to make the character look cool or even a kitten  

 

To look like a kitten:

Cat-Ear Hood Skin - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)

Furrocious Cat Ears - Guild Wars 2 Wiki (GW2W)

😁

 

PS: To answer your question seriously, I personally find it about half and half between gemstore and in-game.  Both have really awesome skins; both have things I could just as soon do without.  A lot depends on your tastes, though.

[Randulf.7614]

You do not have to spend a single penny of real money too look flashy or cool in the game. You may need to do content out of comfort zone, commit to currency grinds or collections or wait for festivals, but the options for customising with in game resources are enormous.

The exception being mount and glider skins. Those are gemstore purchases. The good news is all gemstore purchases can be bought by converting a lot of in game gold.

Gear and weapons are monetised to a surprisingly low extent in comparison to the options. Just a few skins. Many of which are very flashy, many of which are subjectively naff. Plus you have legendary gear which is entirely in game obtainable

Armour is also dyable to a high extent and the number of dyes is enormous. Whilst there are gemstore dyes, they can be bought through the trading post or given away during character birthdays. This makes it even easier to look fantastic with in game resources

Edited November 14, 2021 by Randulf.7614

[Danikat.8537]

As everyone else has said there's plenty of good weapon and armour skins available in the game. I've often considered buying a gem store skin then changed my mind because I check and find one in-game which I like just as much.

The important thing to know is most of them are not random drops you'll get from enemies or in unidentified gear. If you rely on those you will be restricted to just a few styles. Most of them have to be bought from vendors with specialist currencies, crafted or come from achievements.

For example each of the 8 dungeons has a unique armour set (one for each armour weight) and weapon set bought with tokens from that dungeon. Each of the Orders has their own weapons and armour set and each race has 3 unique sets bought with karma. There's ones unique to WvW and PvP too.

IMO the best thing to do is use the wardrobe tab in the bank to look through all the available skins to find ones you like (you can preview them on your character and see how different pieces look together) then use the Wiki to find out how to get them.

[Ashantara.8731]

14 hours ago, Splat.7981 said:

i was wondering if by playing the game itself, going through dungeons, raids and other content one can obtain good looking gear and weapons

Of course! Most of my gear's looks consist of non-Gem Store skins.

Then again, personal tastes differ, so I can't really answer that question for you. All I can say is that a lot of Gem Store skins are breaking immersion or are downright ridiculous or ugly, with a few exceptions of "Darn, that would have made a great legendary!" - but that's just my personal opion.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Ashantara.8731

[Randulf.7614]

42 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

Of course! Most of my gear's looks consist of non-Gem Store skins.

Then again, personal tastes differ, so I can't really answer that question for you. All I can say is that a lot of Gem Store skins are breaking immersion or are downright ridiculous or ugly, with a few exceptions of "Darn, that would have made a great legendary!" - but that's just my personal opion.

Agreed

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

16 hours ago, Splat.7981 said:

Hello everyone. 

As a new player i didn't had much time to sink into the game as much as i would like to but i was wondering something.

 

The game as a cash shop, mount skins, weapon skins, even armor skins and other stuff is there to anyone that wishes to buy them of course, in terms of the gear and weapons i would imagine that those are to make the character look cool or even a kitten  , i was wondering if by playing the game itself, going through dungeons, raids and other content one can obtain good looking gear and weapons or the most flashier ones and even the most cooler ones are only in the store itself and all the other stuff obtainable in the game looks and feels bland? 

 

Sorry for asking this but as  a new player and before i do invest myself entirely to GW 2 i have to know how much they monetize the aesthetics of gear and weapons compared to the ones that a player can farm or obtain in the game by doing actual content.

 

A video was done on this at one point, though I forgot who made it and thus don't have a link. But apparently ~80% of all cosmetics are obtainable in game without ever spending gems. On top of this, because you can convert gold to gems, everything is in theory obtainable by only playing the game.

 

its worth noting, however, that certain items are more common in gemstore (Mount skins and Outfits), and other items are more common in game (like armor and weapon skins).

Edited November 15, 2021 by Hannelore.8153

[Danikat.8537]

I once tried to do a list of all the weapons and armour skins and whether they came from the gem store or in-game, but it got quite complicated because of things like black lion weapon sets which technically can only be obtained by someone buying keys and opening chests, but are tradable so an individual player can get them without touching the gem store (and without any RNG), I knew different people would count those differently and couldn't find a simple way to display all the options. Plus things which aren't currently available but almost certainly will be at some point in future, but I can't guarantee that. Between that and the fact that it was quite boring to do and they kept adding new skins I never finished, but from the ones I did look through I'd say the vast majority of skins are available without having to use gems.

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

Krytan Herald channel on Youtube has a lot of good style videos. A good place to start: