Transmutation charges and content through customizing

[AliamRationem.5172]

5 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.

Quite alright.  Vent any time.  FWIW, I agree.  I think there are plenty of players who just aren't into fighting other players and don't want to grind boring map completion and story repeats for the opportunity to utilize the fashion items they've earned/purchased.  Like the others, it doesn't affect me directly because I have done a considerable amount of WvW and also have full legendary gear.  But is that an excuse to tell others they need to play the game the same way I do?  Nope.

[Strider Pj.2193]

59 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

Quite alright.  Vent any time.  FWIW, I agree.  I think there are plenty of players who just aren't into fighting other players and don't want to grind boring map completion and story repeats for the opportunity to utilize the fashion items they've earned/purchased.  Like the others, it doesn't affect me directly because I have done a considerable amount of WvW and also have full legendary gear.  But is that an excuse to tell others they need to play the game the same way I do?  Nope.

While I can agree with the bulk of your sentiment, there are things as a primary WvW player that I get that I have no use for, and there are many things I need and I can’t get within that mode.  If I want them, I go and do that part of the game.  

 

I would speculate that Anet wants people engaged in multiple modes.  Likely to show the ‘health’ of each mode.  (Whether an accurate indicator of that or not is certainly debatable). But they do offer a means to get them if staying in one mode is all someone wants to do.  It just involves Gems, which, again, assists Anet in continuing to operate.  
 

No game is perfect.  If this is a gate for people to enjoy the game, then maybe it isn’t for them.  

[Stx.4857]

There are two major issues with this outdated transmute system.

 

1)  PvE doesn't reward nearly enough charges, pvp rewards a ton.  This is completely imbalanced and honestly doesn't make any sense.  People will pvp if they want to, you shouldn't be forced into it for basic customization rewards.

 

2)  Applying a look to a specific piece of armor is clunky and outdated.  It makes it very hard to engage in the system while leveling, as you replace gear regularly.  Look at how Eso does their armor appearance..  you choose a look for each armor slot and it stays with you even when you change gear...  and they also have dyes and costumes (outfits).

 

I personally am a pve player and I felt the exact same way as the OP.  I recently started to dabble in spvp and I'm shocked at how much better the rewards are for doing pvp, it's really unfair.  

[Sigmoid.7082]

4 minutes ago, Stx.4857 said:

PvE doesn't reward nearly enough charges, pvp rewards a ton.  This is completely imbalanced and honestly doesn't make any sense.  People will pvp if they want to, you shouldn't be forced into it for basic customization rewards.

Being forced and being incentivised are two very different things. 

[Stx.4857]

2 minutes ago, Sigmoid.7082 said:

Being forced and being incentivised are two very different things. 

I think I used the correct word.  The rate at which you recieve charges in pvp is insanely fast.  I can't even remember getting them in pve other than daily log in or leveling a character.  Map completion too but..  the frequency is abysmal compared to pvp.  I've only completed one reward track in spvp and I've already built up charges to around 25.  Before I had 0.  

 

Daily rewards are imbalanced as well.  In pve to complete the daily you usually need to go to 3 different maps and on one of them spend time doing events.  I can complete my daily in one BG and sometimes it's like 5 minutes.  I think the most it's ever taken is 2 games.  Way less time.  I don't necessarily mind this.  But transmute charges should be much easier to get in pve, either from dailies, champ bags, bounties, or something...

[yoni.7015]

If you limit yourself and play just one game mode, that’s entirely on you. I think it is better to play more game modes because they give different rewards faster and easier. For example in WvW you can get transmutation charges faster and easier, in PvE it’s easier and faster to make gold. 

Edited February 19, 2022 by yoni.7015

[Gibson.4036]

I agree that transmutation charges are a needless mechanic. Having to weigh “do I want to spend one on this change” every time reduces the joy of tweaking and refining a character’s look. I can’t see that it adds anything positive to the game, and doubt that ANet makes much money selling them for gems.

Cue Kharmin to point out that only ANet knows how much they make, and if they didn’t make any money, they’d have made them free long ago. Nevermind that purely rational self interest is a myth of academic economists.

Im also highly skeptical of the idea that some areas of the game should have dominance over some rewards in order to encourage people to play them. Propping up old or underplayed content with rewards is one of the worst things about mmo design, though I understand the pull to do it on the part of the developers.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Gibson.4036

[Parasite.5389]

there are a lot of 'low effort' ways to get Transmutation charges;

the game gives you 3 free a month just from logins, map completion of any city map is a Guaranteed drop, with other maps giving you a chance for a BL key, which will give you a Black lion Statuette with can be traded for 2 TCs, and you can buy 3 a day, every day a week at every festival.

with a little more effort; Skirmish chests in WvW can be traded in for them.

alternatively as stated above, if fashion is a big drive for you, make Legendaries

Edited February 20, 2022 by Parasite.5389

[AliamRationem.5172]

4 minutes ago, Parasite.5389 said:

there are a lot of 'low effort' ways to get Transmutation charges;

the game gives you 3 free a month just from logins, map completion of any city map is a Guaranteed drop, with other maps giving you a chance for a BL key, which will give you a Black lion Statuette with can be traded for 2 TCs, and you can buy 3 a day, every day at every festival.

with a little more effort; Skirmish chests in WvW can be traded in for them.

alternatively as stated above, if fashion is a big drive for you, make Legendaries

While what you say is true, in my opinion it's more reasonable to suggest that they could be less stingy about granting transmute charges from PvE than to suggest that activities like key farming via map completion or the paltry 3 charges per month from login rewards (or legendary gear! LoL) are "low-effort".  WvW could be considered low-effort for transmute charges, but many players have a strong aversion to PvP of any kind.

To be clear, I am not saying there is any reason they must change this or that the current situation is grossly unfair in any way.  But as a matter of opinion, I think they could be a little more free with the transmute charges from regular PvE gameplay.  That's all.

[Hashberry.4510]

They have made plenty of odd, seemingly counterproductive decisions all along. I would flounce too if I let myself dwell on it. It is best not to, the game is what it is, and loads of fun in spite of the madness.

[Mrs Lana.2506]

17 hours ago, Parasite.5389 said:

and you can buy 3 a day, every day at every festival.

Just clearing this up - it's 3 a week, every week, at every festival.

[Parasite.5389]

7 hours ago, Miss Lana.5276 said:

Just clearing this up - it's 3 a week, every week, at every festival.

have i done this again... i keep getting days and weeks mixed up lately

[Ashen.2907]

On 2/19/2022 at 9:46 AM, AliamRationem.5172 said:

they could be less stingy about granting transmute charges from PvE

Essentially everything you do in PvE can earn you transmutation charges because of the gold to gem conversion option. About the only thing in game that will not contribute to earning TCs is pure roleplay.

[DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49]

On 2/19/2022 at 3:07 PM, Stx.4857 said:

It makes it very hard to engage in the system while leveling, as you replace gear regularly.  Look at how Eso does their armor appearance..  you choose a look for each armor slot and it stays with you even when you change gear...  and they also have dyes and costumes (outfits).

Yes, when often changing armor to new during leveling it lose earlier set colors, it's tedious to set it again - but actually there is a trick for that:

• equip a new armor, then an old, then a new again

so just do few clicks on it in inventory, this way a new armor will get previously set colors.

[fixit.7189]

what if there was reward tracks in open world pve like wvw? you could have one that rewards xmute charges for example, thus making a proper pve route instead of being forced to pvp for them. wouldn't that be cool? idk.

Edited February 20, 2022 by fixit.7189

[DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49]

13 minutes ago, fixit.7189 said:

what if there was reward tracks in open world pve like wvw?

Well, there are already reward tracks for PvE: Map bonus rewards, but with other items.

[Redfeather.6401]

It's because of transmuation charges that I rarely change my character's appearances. I settle on a look and it stays that way.

[Mrs Lana.2506]

4 hours ago, Parasite.5389 said:

have i done this again... i keep getting days and weeks mixed up lately

That's alright, I can't distinguish between days most of the time. They all blend together and I forget what I did when.

[fixit.7189]

1 hour ago, DD39C89C-1C46-4F28-BDB7-49 said:

Well, there are already reward tracks for PvE: Map bonus rewards, but with other items.

 

i meant more like the wvw one where you get to choose a track from a list.

edit. w/e. i just wvw for xmute charges since that's the easiest imo. just follow a tag, hit doors, and profit. lol!

Edited February 21, 2022 by fixit.7189

[AliamRationem.5172]

6 hours ago, Ashen.2907 said:

Essentially everything you do in PvE can earn you transmutation charges because of the gold to gem conversion option. About the only thing in game that will not contribute to earning TCs is pure roleplay.

Oh, sure.  But the price is pretty steep when you do the math on that.  It's probably something like 7-8g per charge, meaning a complete wardrobe change would cost somewhere in the ballpark of 75g to do armor, weapons, and backpack.  That's way more than enough to prevent most players from using them anything but sparingly.

Meanwhile, if you take advantage of the other available options you end up with more charges than you can use fairly quickly.  That's great if you want to PvP/WvW, but not everyone does.  So, like I said, they could stand to be a little less stingy about the acquisition options for transmute charges in PvE.

[Ashen.2907]

25 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

So, like I said, they could stand to be a little less stingy about the acquisition options for transmute charges in PvE.

I just don't consider the current setup to be "stingy." Giving something away for "free" and then selling more if the free method is insufficient to a given individual's needs seems to be the opposite of stingy to me. 

[captrowdy.9561]

If you play WvW or pvp you’ll get tons. If you don’t like pvp well that sucks. I would rather pvp 24/7 but I need to pve to get stuff. I just make the best of it and have a good time. It’s like this in every mmo. Gw2 is probably the best out of all of them when it comes it. 

[Ashantara.8731]

On 2/19/2022 at 1:40 AM, Labjax.2465 said:

So I realize transmutation charges might be a big money maker for you (Anet) through whales

...or through playing WvW, which is for free (except for your playtime 😄 ). I currently have a total of 4,756 with nothing to do with them since Legendary Equipment can be transmuted for free.

[Rasimir.6239]

6 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

...or through playing WvW, which is for free (except for your playtime 😄 ). I currently have a total of 4,756 with nothing to do with them since Legendary Equipment can be transmuted for free.

You can always go full-out fashion wars with your weekly key-farm character (if you are into that kind of thing) 😂

[Labjax.2465]

So since I decided to keep playing and played around with WvW reward tracks, I thought I would revisit this to call BS on the people who say it's easy to get charges there.

If you fully change your character's appearance, you're looking at a cost of about 9-10 charges, depending on if you do both weapon sets. I'll be generous and say 9. After prob a week or so of heavy WvW playing on and off, some of it no-life hours investment and spending most of my Skirmish Chests on charges and using some 50% reward track and 10% reward track boosters some of the time, I ended up with about 5 outfit changes worth (I'm counting some that I spent to change my outfit once).

That might sound like a lot if this is the only game you've ever played, but to put it in perspective (and this is the first and last time I will compliment the trainwreck that is SWTOR after its latest changes), in SWTOR (prior to its latest changes, I have not checked since) you could spend I'd estimate about 20 minutes (if that) to get enough credits to afford a full outfit change on a character and it isn't a special currency, it's just credits, like this game's gold, so anything that can give you credits can get it. That's if you aren't already flowing in credits and many people are in that game because of inflation. You also have up to 16 outfit slots per character that you can unlock so you can make different outfits and switch between them.

What is evident to me is that it's "easy to get charges" "if you PvP", but only if you also don't customize much and you pick charges from Skirmish Chests. Then you'll accumulate some decent number of charges passively and since you don't customize much, you'll think they are pouring in like water, when in reality, you don't understand what it's like to have a game where outfit changing is easy to do or what it's like to have character customizing be a pivotal part of how you play games like these. That is the only way I can make sense of the narrative I have been given by multiple people in this thread.

I looked for myself and I compared, and it's about what I expected, so my original post still stands.