Fishing Skins Overpriced???

[Derak Strider.7851]

So I just finished the mastery track for fishing, and have to say I have enjoyed the whole process thus far along with the expansion. I then remembered that two skins, the Angler Hat and Angler Vest were two skins that unlocked at one of the fishing merchants upon fishing the mastery track. So I went on over to pick them up, figuring i'd have to pay a sum of gold and maybe some Writ's of Seitung Province's. Instead, I come face to face with the fact that even after unlocking them you need to drop an additional 515k Karma just to buy them. Now I understand for some people this isn't that much, especially if you do not craft legendaries all that often and karma has been stacking. But even still, half a million karma for two skins which you've already had to work for just to unlock to begin with seems crazy steep does it not? I hope the price can be reduced to something a bit more reasonable in the near future. Or at least add an additional method of buying them?

[Linken.6345]

10 minutes ago, Derak Strider.7851 said:

So I just finished the mastery track for fishing, and have to say I have enjoyed the whole process thus far along with the expansion. I then remembered that two skins, the Angler Hat and Angler Vest were two skins that unlocked at one of the fishing merchants upon fishing the mastery track. So I went on over to pick them up, figuring i'd have to pay a sum of gold and maybe some Writ's of Seitung Province's. Instead, I come face to face with the fact that even after unlocking them you need to drop an additional 515k Karma just to buy them. Now I understand for some people this isn't that much, especially if you do not craft legendaries all that often and karma has been stacking. But even still, half a million karma for two skins which you've already had to work for just to unlock to begin with seems crazy steep does it not? I hope the price can be reduced to something a bit more reasonable in the near future. Or at least add an additional method of buying them?

Well atleast it is something to spend some my 55 million karma on if I buy EoD.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

2 hours ago, Derak Strider.7851 said:

So I just finished the mastery track for fishing, and have to say I have enjoyed the whole process thus far along with the expansion. I then remembered that two skins, the Angler Hat and Angler Vest were two skins that unlocked at one of the fishing merchants upon fishing the mastery track. So I went on over to pick them up, figuring i'd have to pay a sum of gold and maybe some Writ's of Seitung Province's. Instead, I come face to face with the fact that even after unlocking them you need to drop an additional 515k Karma just to buy them. Now I understand for some people this isn't that much, especially if you do not craft legendaries all that often and karma has been stacking. But even still, half a million karma for two skins which you've already had to work for just to unlock to begin with seems crazy steep does it not? I hope the price can be reduced to something a bit more reasonable in the near future. Or at least add an additional method of buying them?

You get millions of karma from Wintersday just for doing 15mins of work every day.

 

And I'm not sure why you're spending karma on Legendaries? Its mostly only used for Obsidian Shards and they drop full stacks every few days in Silverwastes and over time from the synthesisers in the Windswept Haven guild hall for free. There's no reason to ever buy them.

 

Btw minis in LWS3 and LWS4 cost 300k karma each, and they're just minis.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Hannelore.8153

[kharmin.7683]

9 hours ago, Linken.6345 said:

Well atleast it is something to spend some my 55 million karma on if I buy EoD.

And here I thought that I was impressive with my measly 10m karma. 

[Gibson.4036]

I regularly delivered gifts to orphans and did the JP daily this last wintersday and only made about 2 million karma.

I can’t imagine spending a quarter of that for two niche skins.

[Redfeather.6401]

It's how guild wars 2 gets rid of inflated currencies.

I think it's bad for the game to just add such grossly overpriced stuff.

That's what, thousands of renown heart completions? For a skin.

Go ahead and emote 'confuse'. I just care about what's best for the game and I can never believe that pricing game rewards so outrageously is good for player retention. It all revolves around lifers and their savings at this point.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Redfeather.6401

[Omega.6801]

Half a million Karma is nothing. Maybe this is a matter of perspective,

[Gibson.4036]

1 hour ago, Redfeather.6401 said:

It's how guild wars 2 gets rid of inflated currencies.

I think it's bad for the game to just add such grossly overpriced stuff.

That's what, thousands of renown heart completions? For a skin.

Go ahead and emote 'confuse'. I just care about what's best for the game and I can never believe that pricing game rewards so outrageously is good for player retention. It all revolves around lifers and their savings at this point.

That is the problem.

Create a sink for long-time players' hoards and you price out the rest of the population.

There's quite a few things in this game that I see and go, "Ooh, that's kinda interesting.... but not worth that." Feeling often enough like the little urchin standing outside the candy store window does kind of dampen things a bit.

I'll cherish the confused emojis I'm about to get as well, and maybe I'll even earn a "you gotta do the work to get the rewards" on top. 😄

Edited March 2, 2022 by Gibson.4036

[Tatwi.3562]

8 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

You get millions of karma from Wintersday just for doing 15mins of work every day.

This year I got COVID instead. It was awesome! 😐

 

Seriously, it's already so busy for we parent folk at Xmas time. When ya throw in 3 kids and two parents trying their best to isolate from each other in a small house, only for all of them to get sick anyway, it's kind of hard to have the wherewithal to play a computer every day. Was I stuck at home? Yeah. Could I have fit it in there? I guess, but I just didn't have it in me. So happy I was doubled vaxxed.

 

That said, in years past I did pump my Karma up to 3 million or so and I still have 1.2m left over. But, I also purposely almost never spend it on anything in case I need it. I doubt very much I would spend it all on two fishing skins, because I have characters who need functional gear and the... other things and junk.

 

Now if they cost 500 Spirit Shards, I got that covered! 😄

[kharmin.7683]

No worries.  Anet will probably release more skins through the gem store so you can spend gold instead of karma.

[Lyssia.4637]

10 hours ago, Tatwi.3562 said:

Now if they cost 500 Spirit Shards, I got that covered! 😄

Right?  Or Mystic Coins.  I started giving them away when I maxed out in storage, before someone tipped me a Mystic Coin, and I thought to check the price on the TP.  Now I know to keep 'em, but I've yet to actually USE the things.  😆

[Klowdy.3126]

19 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

You get millions of karma from Wintersday just for doing 15mins of work every day.

 

And I'm not sure why you're spending karma on Legendaries? Its mostly only used for Obsidian Shards and they drop full stacks every few days in Silverwastes and over time from the synthesisers in the Windswept Haven guild hall for free. There's no reason to ever buy them.

 

Btw minis in LWS3 and LWS4 cost 300k karma each, and they're just minis.

I don't buy them much, but I always go to AB to get them with that map currency (which is now useless to me other that this purpose lol).

[lothefallen.7081]

I don't understand how people always seem to fail to consider the development and design perspective for reward implementations. An important part of game design for an MMO that is essentially driven by microtransactions is keeping the player in the game. More time spent in the game, higher probability that they will spend in the cash shop. Also, when you consider that the endgame of GW2 is primarily fueled and driven by aesthetic (horizontal) progression and much of the end game is based around creating alts to experiment with new classes and builds, it makes sense from a design perspective to do things like;

1. Make specialty items and prestige items costly to both offer incentive for new players and provide a resource sink for veterans.

2. Make the elite specialization weapons require story completion to add replay-ability and incentivize alts.

3. Ensure that through both of those above, there is a sense of longevity and replay value baked in to the zone design.

4. Keep a healthy population of players spread across zones to ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience for players.

5. Keep you logged in and chasing that carrot, which statistically makes ArenaNet money.

I remember when ArenaNet introduced the Requiem armor set and all the outrage that came from the market manipulation of prices for the sigil of nullification. Now, the sigils are extremely accessible as the market has balanced out and players have moved on to newer content. When the average player is thinking in terms of instant gratification, it's important to temper expectations by remembering the game is designed as a system with specific desired outcomes, processes, and flows. The developer is always going to design content to give players something to work for. What's great about GW2 is that the fishing hat and vest are purely aesthetic and players that feel like the reward is worth the invested currency or time can go after it. Those that don't feel like the reward is worth the invested time or currency can move on to other things.

 

Cheers,

[Gibson.4036]

I don’t think people lack understanding of why they do it. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t detract from the game for some.

[Eckee.4038]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:49 AM, Hannelore.8153 said:

You get millions of karma from Wintersday just for doing 15mins of work every day.

 

And I'm not sure why you're spending karma on Legendaries? Its mostly only used for Obsidian Shards and they drop full stacks every few days in Silverwastes and over time from the synthesisers in the Windswept Haven guild hall for free. There's no reason to ever buy them.

 

Btw minis in LWS3 and LWS4 cost 300k karma each, and they're just minis.

Bruh,

We don't play games to "work".

Obsidian Shards do not drop in full stacks.

Guild Hall gives about 2 per day.

 

I don't know about the expensive part but maybe those skins should be sold for some fishing currency instead of karma.

Edited March 5, 2022 by Eckee.4038

[Labjax.2465]

On 3/2/2022 at 9:56 PM, lothefallen.7081 said:

I don't understand how people always seem to fail to consider the development and design perspective for reward implementations. An important part of game design for an MMO that is essentially driven by microtransactions is keeping the player in the game. More time spent in the game, higher probability that they will spend in the cash shop. Also, when you consider that the endgame of GW2 is primarily fueled and driven by aesthetic (horizontal) progression and much of the end game is based around creating alts to experiment with new classes and builds, it makes sense from a design perspective to do things like;

1. Make specialty items and prestige items costly to both offer incentive for new players and provide a resource sink for veterans.

2. Make the elite specialization weapons require story completion to add replay-ability and incentivize alts.

3. Ensure that through both of those above, there is a sense of longevity and replay value baked in to the zone design.

4. Keep a healthy population of players spread across zones to ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience for players.

5. Keep you logged in and chasing that carrot, which statistically makes ArenaNet money.

I remember when ArenaNet introduced the Requiem armor set and all the outrage that came from the market manipulation of prices for the sigil of nullification. Now, the sigils are extremely accessible as the market has balanced out and players have moved on to newer content. When the average player is thinking in terms of instant gratification, it's important to temper expectations by remembering the game is designed as a system with specific desired outcomes, processes, and flows. The developer is always going to design content to give players something to work for. What's great about GW2 is that the fishing hat and vest are purely aesthetic and players that feel like the reward is worth the invested currency or time can go after it. Those that don't feel like the reward is worth the invested time or currency can move on to other things.

 

Cheers,

Or maybe Anet should consider that people have real, actual physical lives and don't live forever? Dunno why we as players should play apologist for a corporation. Yeah, they have different interests than us sometimes, doesn't mean we need to represent their interests for them. They certainly aren't going to represent ours.

Ours matter and their continued business is dependent on balancing their own $$$ interests with the fact that we can decide on a whim to quit next minute and there's not a thing they can do about it. Any MMO that fails to consider that is in trouble.

[kettering.6823]

People complain about the game not having enough rewards earned through gameplay and everything being in the gem store, and then when something is earned through gameplay they complain anyway.

[AgentMoore.9453]

On 3/2/2022 at 8:42 AM, Redfeather.6401 said:

It all revolves around lifers and their savings at this point.

This is the issue, I think. I had plenty of karma laying around to get these skins, but I had that karma because I've been playing forever and know the ins and outs of racking up karma with certain activities. So then, are these skins meant for veteran players? Is that the takeaway?

They could appeal to more players by adding additional accepted currencies for these skins or lowering the overall cost of them. Having extra karma in my wallet isn't hurting me, but having too little of it is definitely hurting newer players who are excited about fishing and I don't think that's good for anybody.

[Gorem.8104]

Would be interesting to be a new player and start with 0 Karma, cause its needed for stuff all throughout the entire game at this point in living worlds for portal scrolls and things. Then they go and make cosmetics cost way more then it should 

[Khisanth.2948]

That is both a lot and not a lot. It is equivalent to around 62gold but 62gold would be much faster to get.

[Mrs Lana.2506]

13 hours ago, kettering.6823 said:

People complain about the game not having enough rewards earned through gameplay and everything being in the gem store, and then when something is earned through gameplay they complain anyway.

The problem with generalising "people" in that statement is that you'll find those two groups are completely separate.

Yes, people complain about not having enough rewards through gameplay.
Yes, people complain when something is earned through gameplay.

No, those aren't the same people.

[kettering.6823]

2 hours ago, Miss Lana.5276 said:

The problem with generalising "people" in that statement is that you'll find those two groups are completely separate.

Yes, people complain about not having enough rewards through gameplay.
Yes, people complain when something is earned through gameplay.

No, those aren't the same people.

 

This is often true but not the rule. I have definitely seen the same people complain about both things lol.

[lothefallen.7081]

On 3/4/2022 at 9:19 PM, Labjax.2465 said:

Or maybe Anet should consider that people have real, actual physical lives and don't live forever? Dunno why we as players should play apologist for a corporation. Yeah, they have different interests than us sometimes, doesn't mean we need to represent their interests for them. They certainly aren't going to represent ours.

Ours matter and their continued business is dependent on balancing their own $$$ interests with the fact that we can decide on a whim to quit next minute and there's not a thing they can do about it. Any MMO that fails to consider that is in trouble.

You're not wrong, but also, consider levers of power. The individual player matters very little, especially in context of a business model built on microtransactions. As long as the majority of whales are captivated by new skins and the like, ArenaNet doesn't have to go as far to keep every individual player satisfied. Their model is built to appeal to a wide demographic. It's not the same business model as WoW for example where each subscription matters in a horizontal way. Ultimately, ArenaNet is in the position of power, and the ideology of capitalism that drives the production of the product will always dictate that they produce what the majority of their paying customers are after in order to sustain their model first and foremost. They are likely not too concerned with a few players complaining that they have to work to obtain currency for exclusive fishing skins. That's an externality for them. They include a multitude of carrots in varying contexts for different people to chase. It's only going to affect their bottom line if complaints mount beyond their ability to drive profit, which is highly unlikely. But go off, I guess.

 

[medivh.4725]

Too little options on the market right now. Give players more choice. That should bring down prices too

Edited March 16, 2022 by medivh.4725

[medivh.4725]

Whats with the confuse faces? Just a few fishing rods to buy am I wrong? What options do we have

Edited March 16, 2022 by medivh.4725