New player: Coufounded by LW. Looking for gold <> gem advice.

[LonerPrime.4618]

Hello,

         Before I jump into the main theme of this topic, allow me to weave a little prologue about what led me to create this thread in the first place. I'm a fairly seasoned MMORPG player and I squarely place myself in "plays the game for a good lore and story narration" player camp. Yes, endgame has its own charm but I love the journey that got me there more than anything. Recently, a family friend of mine talked eagerly about the new EOD expansion for GW2 and how he was raring to get into it the new content but felt lonely playing by himself. Since he knew I was a sucker for a good story he urged me to give GW2 a try. Unbeknownst to him, I had already played GW2 back in 2012 and enjoyed it for a few months before quitting due to a lack of content. When i told him of this, he immediately decided to get me the latest expansion as a Christmas gift and swore I would love how far it had come since the days of the original game. Sure enough, to my pleasant surprise GW2 blew me away. The story was woven nicely, content itself so varied and quests unique and interesting. Best was how I leveled smoothly without feeling stressed or bored by repetitive elements. In-fact there was so much I didn't see and so much lore I missed that I was making plans to level one or two more alts just to enjoy the journey again. That was until, I hit 80 on my first character..

 

Following the Story Journal's advice, after defeating Zhaitan and culminating my personal story,  I switched to the Scarlet War episode but as it was just a recap I decided to move on to the Living World Season 2. Now this might seem like a "Meh" moment to GW2 veterans but for a new player who started my journey from scratch, it came as a rude shock to find that there were gaps in the lore content between expansions and said gaps were locked behind a paywall which caught me by utter surprise. My leveling experience and spree came to a grinding halt. I dipped my toes into Heart of Thorns content and sure enough there was so many story gaps, so many new npcs behaving like they were my old pals, so much development that made no sense to me that it completely ripped me out of my immersion capsule. Now I could complain and whine at Anet but frankly, after perusing through multiple forum and reddit threads, I think I can confidently say that this topic is nothing new to the veteran community of GW2. In-fact I'm amazed how even the regular players agree that Anet hasn't handled monetizing this element properly and is hurting them more in the long run.

 

So, now that the unintentionally lengthy prologue is out of the way, I've two options moving forward. Either I refund the game or make an effort to make gold and turn it into gems to buy the LW episodes. The former definitely feels like an overkill and frankly something I'd like to avoid as it was a gift by a good friend. Not to mention I really like the game. Paying 50$ isn't possible for me right now due to personal reasons and not really an option for my friend who dropped nearly 100$ for two game copies already. Hence, I'm seriously evaluating the latter option. But most gold guides listed by YTubers are so advanced and guild/group focused that it feels like I'm sinking in a torrent of information that makes no sense to my novice brain. Long story short, I'd like to ask players themselves: How viable is it to make decent gold as a new level 80? Is it possible without burning yourself out doing "mind numbing repeatable" content? If so, how long will it really take and what should I be looking into specifically? I'm sitting on a few raw materials that I amassed through my leveling spree. Should I be liquidating that into gold? Or am I just giving myself false hopes and should just walk away from GW2 entirely?

 

I apologize for this wall of text and the sprinkling of pessimism, but honestly, I really could use some genuine advice here. Having a good game to play is kind of a rare instance these days, especially when it comes to MMORPGs. I don't really hate grinds but I do not want to start detesting a new game cause I spent too much time trying to make gold via a ridiculous route and failed to actually enjoy the game. Please consider penning your thoughts on the matter as this new one would really appreciate it.

 

Regards-

Edited December 29, 2021 by LonerPrime.4618

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Purchasing a Living World Episode is only $2.50  or 200 Gems which is about ~70 Gold, you could obtain them that way, and spend the time to actually complete the Episode (not just play the story) and earn enough Gold for the next Episode each time.  It's cheaper, though, to purchase each Living World Season Bundle through the Gem Store.   It's about $15 for each bundle, so there's nothing pushing you to buy all 4 at once.  You can mix and match bundles and individual Episodes, as well; the cost will be adjusted in a bundle if you've unlocked 1 or more Episodes (with Gold).

 

It's up to you. 

[TheQuickFox.3826]

I think it was a bad choice to sell the expansions without having the respective living world chapters included. If a player goes to the GW2 store now, and buys the expansion collection, they don't realize that even this requires you to pay 4880 gems (61 EUR/USD.) for the living world story chapters. I'm all for ArenaNet making money, and they need to make money to offer the game at no monthly fee. But this is just a disappointment for new players who think they are buying all content with the collection.

 

Of course, you can get the content for free when you earn gold in game and exchange it for gems. But this sets you up for a very bad experience. In order to have an enjoyable experience, you need the gold you earn in game for your characters. To buy bags, weapons, armor, crafting materials to make your character stand out and to have fun. Nothing is more frustrating than losing all your hard earned gold to buy DLC and convenience items that make the game smooth to play.

 

So, if you can afford it. Buy gems with real world currency and use those gems to buy the DLC and gemstore items. Keep the gold you earn to upgrade your characters. This will give you the smooth and enjoyable experience and a realistic expectation on what you need to pay to enjoy GW2 to the max.

 

Having said this. And in my personal opinion: It is still nice that there is no hard paywall as with a subscription MMO. If you are not able to pay any real world currency, you can still play the game, but you will be severely handicapped. And the other way around: If you have a lot of real world currency to spend on the game, you can get a super smooth experience by exchanging gems to gold and fast-tracking character development. (Like buying legendary weapons off TP) While this is somewhat unfair, you as big spender are also funding the server cost for many free-to-play players who would have no means to play GW2 otherwise.

[Yunnadel.8296]

Hello there,

 

First of all, glad to hear that you are enjoying the game.

 

Grinding gold is......... well.... grinding... but not worse than other MMO in my opinion.

There are 2 (good-ish) choices imo for the fresh lv80 to grind gold, up to your preference.

 

1) Grinding non-stop for a lengthy period = Silverwaste (aka RIBA)

watch youtuber that you like just to get an idea of the flow or gw2 wiki for it.

 

This is still one of the best mind-numbing face roll continuous gold grind in the game.

 

 

2) Hard World Bosses and Meta

 

Hard World Bosses

- Tequatl = 10-15mins / 2+ gold with low chance of ascended equipment 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tequatl_the_Sunless

- Triple Trouble = -30mins / 2+ gold with low chance of ascended equipment

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Triple_Trouble

 

Technically not a Hard World Boss, but close to

- Ley-line Anomaly = -5mins / 2.5+ gold (say mystic coin is 2+- gold)

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Legendary_Ley-Line_Anomaly

 

Meta

- Auric Basin = 20mins / 5+ gold with super duper low chance of winning lotto

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Battle_in_Tarir_(map_meta_event)

 

For world bosses and LLA, you can get most rewards only once a day.

But for Auric Basin you can do max 12 times a day if you don't sleep (lol) with minimal diminishing return.

 

You can check the timer for each event here

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Event_timers

 

Try exploring other events as you see fit to your schedule and preference.

Also try to understand how to use LFG function properly (button "Y" as default) because it's an important part of playing the game.

 

Have fun grinding.

[Vidit.7108]

You seem like a pretty casual player, nothing wrong with that, so here is my advice for if you're looking to pick up living story episodes.

Unless you are interested in upgrading past exotic for a particular reason, you can get by on very little gold as someone playing for story. I used to not have much more than 30-50 gold up until I needed the PoF mounts. If you want ascended or legendary that's probably a long term goal for you anyway and if you're not doing the high end content religiously then you won't have much use for gold. If you don't have much interest in legenedaries at all those mystic coins fetch a huge price and will probably skyrocket when the expansion launches in February.

I'm sure you probably looked into this already but for spending about 30 minutes every day you can make 6~ gold from the Tequatl world boss, the daily achievement and from selling the mystic coin you get out of the leyline anomaly. A little repetitive maybe but it's a very small time investment that adds up quickly. You'll have enough gold per episode from doing that in a shorter time than it took arenanet to actually release the living world content. 

Right now the game has a pretty aggressive demand for gold so when the gem store doesn't have a hot new item or a major sale it's been trending down particularly at night. (as of right now character slots are on sale and that's kind of a big deal) Don't buy gems on a tuesday when the gemstore updates. If you see the price of gems at around 100-120 for 400 gems that's a pretty good price.

[mercury ranique.2170]

I understand that this feels frustrating, but imagine this. The game requires you to buy 1 expansion to have them all. It has no monthly fees and will not cost you anything else ever. If you keep on actively playing from now on, future living world episodes will be unlocked for free. All you need to do is login once every 2 months to unlock them. Many keep GW2 installed in an extra hd or something, just for that.

They also gave them away again in the last year, for free to those who logged in once a week. But here it stops.
We can debate a lot about the way they make money, but in my humble opinion it really is worth the money.

There is some solid advice in this thread about how to obtain the gold and how to get stuff cheaper at night

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

Couple of additional options - the Wintersday Festival and the upcoming lunar new year festival in Divinity's Reach.  Silverwastes is probably the fastest, but, don't miss out on the options in the festivals.  Also, make sure you hit your home instance and talk to the orphan Laine and Graunk to unlock that collection (peppermint icon on the map in the home instance, you have to unlock it during Wintersday, but can complete it whenever).  Another point to keep in mind, LWS 2 comes before HoT, then LWS 3, then PoF, then LWS 4, then IBS.  So, you can purchase LWS 2, then move on to HoT before you have to buy LWS 3.  So, work on it in stages. 

Another thing you can do is hop in fractals.  I've now been in the game for 6 years and I still run tier 1 fractals for fun.  Last time I did, I made 5 gold from the junk just from a couple of the dailies.  And don't forget your dailies - three quick tasks and you get 2 gold.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

I'm just going to add here that for the gap between Personal Story and LWS2, there's a three-hour+ movie on YouTube.

 

[NorthernRedStar.3054]

Fastest methods to make gold, for new players:
- Selling festival-specific loot bags (trick-or-treat bags, wintersday presents, etc).
- Doing Triple Trouble and/or Tequatl daily for ~3-4 gold, each.
- Doing your dailies for a swift 2g. If you're into it, I'd recommend playing one game of PvP, which yields you this in 10 minutes, on top of currency and mats for future combining and crafting.
- Keeping an eye out for Daily Mystic Forger, which yields a Mystic Coin (~2g), as well as doing Ley Line Anomaly after Tequatl for another ~2g. Ley Line Anomaly spawns every 2 hours between 3 different maps, which you can check up on the wiki. The one after Tequatl post-daily reset ALWAYS spawns in Timberline Falls.

Once you gradually get better and find yourself interested and invested in fractals and raids, then those net a lot of gold for the time it takes to complete them, for experienced players. Farming Silverwastes is also an apt strategy (albeit not the most interesting one), once you reach that part of the map. 
 

[LonerPrime.4618]

Hi again folks,

 

Allow me to first thank all of you who took the time and effort to not only read but also respond to my thread. F2P games have a disturbing reputation of hosting a toxic player community but my GW2 experience interacting with other players has been anything but. Glad to see not only is the game amazing, but players at large are as well.

 

Now onwards to the suggestions given. Before that, I know no one took this in an unintended direction and I'm glad for it, but I'd still like to clarify something: This was in no ways intended as a "LW should not be a paid content!" or "ANet is a money sucking entity" thread. In-fact, the very opposite where I understand how free to play games sustain themselves and they are well within their justified rights to sell things that have value and demand. My only gripe was that I wasn't made aware that I would not be getting the full story experience when I'd buy the game. Result? Now I'm playing the game halfheartedly going through expansion stories that make no sense, all the while pondering on how to make gold rather than how to enjoy the game to its fullest. All the plans of upgrading my storage and investing in quality of life improvements have suddenly become hazy. I don't know, maybe it might not make sense to the veterans of the game or folks who purely enjoy the RPG element of an MMO, but for me at least it feels like putting the cart in front of the horse. If I had known beforehand, I'd have saved some more money for the gems as well before I dove into the game. But I never got that choice because ANet decided  for me..

 

Oh well, at least there is a helpful community who diligently gave me advice on how to go about getting my financial bearings in order. Now I'm just gonna try and find a groove that will allow me to earn a decent amount of gold regularly without burning myself out. I'm thinking 10 gold a day should be a reasonable start. If I can hit that mark and if the gold to gem economy doesn't spike in any volatile manner, I might be able to afford the LW episodes in a month and a few weeks. Then I can start a new alt character and finally experience the game as it was intended 🙂

 

Once again, thank you all for donating your valuable time for a newbie like me. I wish you a heartfelt seasons greetings and a great gaming experience in this new year!

 

Regards-

Edited January 3, 2022 by LonerPrime.4618
Grammar

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

It's unfortunate that with the pre-purchase release of End of Dragons the information included no longer lists Living World (probably because there is no current Living World on-going).  There used to be information, albeit, in the 'check the fine print' area, but it's no longer there.  Perhaps, it will be back once Living World Season 6 appears. 

[Andy.5981]

If you want to make some easy gold two places to go are Blazeridge Steppes in Ascalon, which is a level 40-50 zone. There is an area of purple Brand which runs up the entire left hand side of the map. The Ghosts and the Branded drop Radiant Dust, which currently sells for just under 10 silver a piece. The drop rate is reasonable and the enemy die quickly.

Another similarly themed Branded area exists in Iron Marches which is a 50-60 zone. The area in question is in the top right of the map and called Crystalwept Groves.

Again the branded drop dust but this time it is piles of Luminous Dust which currently sell for 7s each. Although lower in price than the above Radiant Dust there seems to be more enemy to kill so it might balance itself out over time.

You do of course drop other items but both are good farming areas to quickly gather a bit of gold together.

Good luck.

Edited January 1, 2022 by Andy.5981

[voltaicbore.8012]

22 hours ago, LonerPrime.4618 said:

This was in no ways intended as a "LW should not be a paid content!" or "ANet is a money sucking entity" thread. In-fact, the very opposite where I understand how free to play games sustain themselves and they are well within their justified rights to sell things that have value and demand. My only gripe was that I wasn't made aware that I would not be getting the full story experience when I'd buy the game.

You are far from alone in this sentiment.

While many less eloquent posters do eventually devolve into "I just want LW for free," there have been many threads over the years expressing your same specific frustration - it's not that you don't find it worth the value, but the way LW is (not) sold amounts to nearly a bait-and-switch. You pay for a "full" package, only to find out there's more to buy if you want the truly "full" experience.

The way LW is handled is one of the reasons why I think this game is NOT ready for a Steam launch of any kind (not to mention the numerous other early-/mid-game rough edges that the typical MMO player might find annoying).

10g a day is a reasonable pace. For years I knowingly farmed gold in one of the most inefficient ways possible, which is to farm the Dungeon Frequenter achievement. I just like dungeons, and the challenge of soloing them on various classes gave it enough variety that it wasn't purely a mindless dungeon grind. I'm sure you'll find something you like doing, and a reasonable level of repetition for it.

[moony.5780]

Well GW2 is a pay to play game (not f2p). But i think its extremly unfair, that new player dont know about the hidden dlcs :/ I always tell my friends that want to buy the game, to buy the 100€ version with 4000 gems, just to buy the additional story.

 

A small advice from me...play the game slow, and try out everything. Do PvP, WvW, Festivals, Worldbosses and dungeons. Also you will learn your class really well before entering the jungle. You will get the gold on the way then. I feel truly sad when I hear you can't play the game as you want :( but you could also see it as a chance to experience everything without burning down with a story rush. I lost lots of friends because they played 100% only story and felt there is 0 content to do after, and still had only yellow to exotic gear.

[Crunchbone.7341]

  I have been playing off & on since the GW2 beta. As I am old & have vision problems, I play casually & mostly solo. This game is absolutely perfect for me. Exploration is a favorite thing, so is making alts & playing through different personal stories & orders.

  Something I always enjoyed was downing world bosses & the META events. I recently purchased the World Boss Portal Device for 400 gems & activated it. I get alerts for when the "Triple Trouble" & "Sunless" are ready to spawn (plus all the other Core Tyria Bosses & including Dragonstorm & Drakkar). The device also ports me directly to the boss area/map. I have been doing more of these events than ever as a result of my joy in, and the ease of use of my new, beloved toy, & earning gold as well! The portal device is probably not everyone's favorite thing but it is mine 🙂

  This helps in that since I have a level 80 "main", all of my characters dailies seem to be only for level 80s even though my young ones are not able to complete them. I can, however join in the metas & world bosses daily for fun & gold.

  I completely agree with the poster above me. There is so much to do & enjoy in this game no matter what you enjoy most. Take time & enjoy the journey!

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by Crunchbone.7341

[mercury ranique.2170]

I've played other games in the past en looked into how they are priced. The lack of clarity of the total amount of costs is something they all have in common.

I think GW2 could be setting a great example by explaining what the costs are when you start playing to obtain all content (except the cosmetic content).

A good tool could be to offer it as an alternative package when you buy the complete collection. You can allready ge the complete collection ultimate for 99,99 euro/USD.
Replace the 4000 gems with all living world stories (worth 4160 gems, so a very minor additional discount).

Another thing I would see great marketing is to extend this offer as an upgrade to any purchase for an additional 6 months and sent this offer frequently to those who purchased and created a new account. So if e.g. you bought EoD standard on a free account for 29,99 euro's, you would have an upgrade offer to upgrade to complete colletion including living world for 69,99 during the first 6 months after the initial purchase.

These offers would help a lot in advising players how to get all the content AND allow players to experience a part of the paid content first.