Transmutation charges and content through customizing

[Labjax.2465]

So I realize transmutation charges might be a big money maker for you (Anet) through whales and if so, this is probably pointless to write, but I'm gonna try to make a case for easier customizing.

I'm personally someone who can in some games spend literally (not exaggerating) hours customizing the look of a character. I've done this before in The Sims 4's character creator/editor on just one character, only to play the actual game less. It becomes a kind of content for me and kept me playing that game through times I wasn't enjoying the gameplay much.

The problem I have with this game, by comparison, is customizing the look of my character comes down to transmutation charges. Because they apply directly to the armor and are infrequent to come by through gameplay, this makes the prospect of using skins I've unlocked on a new character dead in the water immediately. I'd need to apply them on a regular basis as armor upgrades. It also makes it a costly decision to think about changing my gear at end game after I've got a customized set, on top of the cost of effort in getting the gear itself.

In short, it motivates me to not use the very customizations that the game encourages me to put (sometimes enormous) amounts of time into unlocking and when that realization takes hold, there is less reason to play the game in general.

If customizing armor/weapon look was low time cost to get currency to do it (or better yet, no time cost), people like myself would have reason to:

- Spend lots of time customizing a character's look and playing around with different looks over time

- Spend more time in gameplay unlocking skins

- Have more reason to seek out skin unlocks through the store (if they can afford such)

- Those who level new characters would be more likely to go around low levels areas with a custom look, giving free advertisement for the process to newer players (much like what happens with mounts)

So there are benefits to be had here and this is the tradeoff, some of what you are losing, with the current system making it a time prohibitive prospect to customize armor/weapon much.

[mindcircus.1506]

transmutation charges are only hard to acquire if you confine yourself to one game mode.

[Linken.6345]

play some unranked spvp or wvw and you will have your transmutation charges.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

They're slow in PvE (mostly only from map completion), but in WvW and PvP you get them from Reward Tracks and in WvW you also get them from Skirmish Chests, as a result you an accumulate 100+ per week.

 

Its not meant to make them money, its meant to get you to play the other game modes. As far as I know they don't actually sell that much in the gemstore for real money; exclusively PvE players that need them can make up to 35g/hr on maps like Drizzlewood and just buy them with gold.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Hannelore.8153

[Labjax.2465]

Thanks for the engagement, but I have no interest in farming just to be able to change my character's appearance, especially if it's content I would not normally do. It's not fun to spend 2/3rds of my time on gameplay just to be able to spend 1/3 on appearance if all I wanted to do in that moment was play around with appearance, or whatever percentage split gets the point across. I can understand that for people who see appearance changing as an added bonus atop gameplay they don't care much about, that percentage split is fine, but that is not how it works for everybody.

Edit: Why am I getting notifications just to tell me people are trolling my posts with reaction buttons. What even are these forums. If you don't understand something I said, you can talk to me like a human being.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Labjax.2465

[JustTrogdor.7892]

I don't really know if charges are something people spend a lot gems on.  Not sure as I have never bought any and never needed to because they are easy to come by.  That said, I would not be against a permanent transmutation charge in the gem store for say 2k gems for players that have difficulty acquiring them. 

Edited February 19, 2022 by JustTrogdor.7892

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

37 minutes ago, JustTrogdor.7892 said:

I don't really know if charges are something people spend a lot gems on.  Not sure as I have never bought any and never needed to because they are easy to come by.  That said, I would not be against a permanent transmutation charge in the gem store for say 2k gems for players that have difficulty acquiring them. 

This would remove one of the big incentives to get Legendary gear, which is that once obtained you never have to acquire or use Transmutation Charges again (transmutes for Legendaries are infinite).

 

The whole game is moving towards Legendary Armory and in EoD they will be easier to obtain.

[Ashen.2907]

2 hours ago, Labjax.2465 said:

So I realize transmutation charges might be a big money maker for you (Anet) through whales and if so, this is probably pointless to write, but I'm gonna try to make a case for easier customizing.

I'm personally someone who can in some games spend literally (not exaggerating) hours customizing the look of a character. I've done this before in The Sims 4's character creator/editor on just one character, only to play the actual game less. It becomes a kind of content for me and kept me playing that game through times I wasn't enjoying the gameplay much.

The problem I have with this game, by comparison, is customizing the look of my character comes down to transmutation charges. Because they apply directly to the armor and are infrequent to come by through gameplay, this makes the prospect of using skins I've unlocked on a new character dead in the water immediately. I'd need to apply them on a regular basis as armor upgrades. It also makes it a costly decision to think about changing my gear at end game after I've got a customized set, on top of the cost of effort in getting the gear itself.

In short, it motivates me to not use the very customizations that the game encourages me to put (sometimes enormous) amounts of time into unlocking and when that realization takes hold, there is less reason to play the game in general.

If customizing armor/weapon look was low time cost to get currency to do it (or better yet, no time cost), people like myself would have reason to:

- Spend lots of time customizing a character's look and playing around with different looks over time

- Spend more time in gameplay unlocking skins

- Have more reason to seek out skin unlocks through the store (if they can afford such)

- Those who level new characters would be more likely to go around low levels areas with a custom look, giving free advertisement for the process to newer players (much like what happens with mounts)

So there are benefits to be had here and this is the tradeoff, some of what you are losing, with the current system making it a time prohibitive prospect to customize armor/weapon much.

Have you considered pursuing Legendary Armor? It is free to transmute.

 

Otherwise the fastest way to get transmutation charges is to spend cash.,

[JustTrogdor.7892]

53 minutes ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

This would remove one of the big incentives to get Legendary gear, which is that once obtained you never have to acquire or use Transmutation Charges again (transmutes for Legendaries are infinite).

 

The whole game is moving towards Legendary Armory and in EoD they will be easier to obtain.

I don't know if a big  incentive for legendary gear is free transmutations.  I thought it is more having the highest stats  (shared with ascended gear) with free stat changes and now with the armory the gear being shared across characters.   I imagine people with a fair amount of  legendaries are not lacking in transmutation chargers either but I could be wrong.    I do know from the legendary gear I have acquired free transmuting was never on my mind when I pursued it. 

[fixit.7189]

i just followed around a tag in wvw for a few weeks for transmutation charges, it's easy and super brainless as long as your team isn't getting totally destroyed that is. now i have more than i will ever need so no need to go back. 🙂

Edited February 19, 2022 by fixit.7189

[Mrs Lana.2506]

1 hour ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

in EoD they will be easier to obtain.

New generation of weapons =/= easier obtainment. You'll still have to craft them, and at no point have they said they'll be cheaper OR easier to obtain.

[firedragon.8953]

When you first start playing transmutation charges may seem hard to come by. I found it got much easier as I continued to play. So, maybe by the time you get more skins unlocked you'll accumulate more charges? That's how it was for me anyway. I have more than enough. I kinda doubt ArenaNet makes much money off selling them, since they aren't quite a rare as they may seem at first.

45 minutes ago, JustTrogdor.7892 said:

I don't know if a big  incentive for legendary gear is free transmutations.

You'd be surprised. I know enough people that this was actually large incentive for getting legendary armor.

Edited February 19, 2022 by firedragon.8953

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

5 minutes ago, Miss Lana.5276 said:

New generation of weapons =/= easier obtainment. You'll still have to craft them, and at no point have they said they'll be cheaper OR easier to obtain.

They're talking about adding LI's to Strike Missions in EoD, and the topic seemed more about armor?

Edited February 19, 2022 by Hannelore.8153

[Mrs Lana.2506]

Just now, Hannelore.8153 said:

They're talking about adding LI's to Strike Missions in EoD.

1/week isn't going to make a dent.

[AliamRationem.5172]

2 hours ago, Labjax.2465 said:

Edit: Why am I getting notifications just to tell me people are trolling my posts with reaction buttons. What even are these forums. If you don't understand something I said, you can talk to me like a human being.

The first rule of forum club is that you don't talk about the confused emojis.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

[Labjax.2465]

14 minutes ago, firedragon.8953 said:

When you first start playing transmutation charges may seem hard to come by. I found it got much easier as I continued to play. So, maybe by the time you get more skins unlocked you'll accumulate more charges? That's how it was for me anyway. I have more than enough. I kinda doubt ArenaNet makes much money off selling them, since they aren't quite a rare as they may seem at first.

You'd be surprised. I know enough people that this was actually large incentive for getting legendary armor.

Contrary to what my forum appearance would indicate (apparently it's because they are new forums and I haven't really been on them since they changed them), I'm not new to this game at all. I played it for prob a good couple years at least back in the Heart of Thorns era and leadup. I came back recently to see if I could still get enjoyment and the transmutation charge situation still being awful for me was one of the first things I noticed. In all the time I played in the past, no matter what content I did, I never felt like I was getting enough of them and having to rely on them to do a simple wardrobe change is strange compared to some other games I've played. It's sad, too, because the dye system is actually really nice and something I haven't seen as extensive in other games. But it feels like half an enjoyable system since I can't easily edit gear look too.

[Freya.9075]

I have never bought them and have almost 1000 charges. Just by playing the game. And I use a lot of them. Sure the beginning can be a bit tedious since you have few at that point but the game literally throw them at you till the point it will never be something you think about again. I doubt the gem store charges is big bucks for anet. 

[Nea.5936]

Ya transmu charges are not a big money source, can get them easily for free. Also if you own legendary armor or weapons these dont consume a transmu charge if you apply any unlocked skin on them.

[Labjax.2465]

41 minutes ago, Freya.9075 said:

I have never bought them and have almost 1000 charges. Just by playing the game. And I use a lot of them. Sure the beginning can be a bit tedious since you have few at that point but the game literally throw them at you till the point it will never be something you think about again. I doubt the gem store charges is big bucks for anet. 

Must be playing a different game.

[yoni.7015]

Transmutation charges are easy to get. Just play WvW and PvP and you will get more than you can spend. 
I have almost 2k. 
The game gives you ways to get them, it’s your problem if you don’t use them. 

Edited February 19, 2022 by yoni.7015

[Labjax.2465]

1 hour ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

The first rule of forum club is that you don't talk about the confused emojis.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

You know, it's funny, I've been thinking about quitting video games lately cause of how poor the industry is these days (just not much fun anymore with the direction games have gone in) and stuff like these forums and their FB design are really helping me realize why I'm so disengaged. That and the general stock answers posturing that goes on where people justify an existing system because it's what they're used to. I appreciate whoever in here was trying to be helpful, but I kinda feel like I wasted my time putting thought into this thread. Nobody who engaged seems to have acknowledged the substance of what I said, it just seems to be borderline cut and paste answers any time the subject of transmutation charges comes up. I don't know what I expected. I assume this post will get some laughing emoji reactions to round out the passive aggressiveness.

Sorry for picking you out to vent to, you seem to have a sense of humor, so I figure you can handle me quoting you to say some stuff. Def don't have anything against what you said.

Anyway, take care y'all, enjoy your 100 million transmutation charges you've stockpiled that you got just from brushing the keyboard on the login screen or whatever.

[Vayne.8563]

2 hours ago, Labjax.2465 said:

You know, it's funny, I've been thinking about quitting video games lately cause of how poor the industry is these days (just not much fun anymore with the direction games have gone in) and stuff like these forums and their FB design are really helping me realize why I'm so disengaged. That and the general stock answers posturing that goes on where people justify an existing system because it's what they're used to. I appreciate whoever in here was trying to be helpful, but I kinda feel like I wasted my time putting thought into this thread. Nobody who engaged seems to have acknowledged the substance of what I said, it just seems to be borderline cut and paste answers any time the subject of transmutation charges comes up. I don't know what I expected. I assume this post will get some laughing emoji reactions to round out the passive aggressiveness.

Sorry for picking you out to vent to, you seem to have a sense of humor, so I figure you can handle me quoting you to say some stuff. Def don't have anything against what you said.

Anyway, take care y'all, enjoy your 100 million transmutation charges you've stockpiled that you got just from brushing the keyboard on the login screen or whatever.

I guess people aren't allowed to disagree with you and your experience must be right and our experience must be wrong. It's never possible that the person saying this is actually in the minority. I mean everyone with a complaint must be right and everyone who doesn't have the same complaint is either making it up, exaggerating or must be wrong.

Seems to me, this has nothing to do with games.

[Mrs Lana.2506]

3 hours ago, Labjax.2465 said:

Anyway, take care y'all, enjoy your 100 million transmutation charges you've stockpiled that you got just from brushing the keyboard on the login screen or whatever.

I mean, you jest, but this is unironically accurate. Super not hard to get if you actually want to get them.

[Omega.6801]

Sat on hundreds of charges, even before going full legendary, making the charges more or less obsolete. The system is fine.

[costepj.5120]

According to GW2 Efficiency, the "top-ranked" player has over 39,000 transmutation charges. I have a paltry 1,617. Regardless, those sort of figures suggest they are not hard to come by.