A Message About the Mount Adoption License

[SaffronCity.3402]

It's either laziness or apathy...the solution to a scenario where everyone wins and nobody is ripped off is obtainable and many people have proposed variants of it. Well, which is it? I'm dying to know why this so called "apology" is not being backed up by the ever so useful cliche of actions speak louder than words. So you made a mistake and rightfully so, you acknowledged it. We're human. However, the proper thing to do is now make things right. So what are you waiting for?

[Tekoneiric.6817]

I'm glad that there was a response however I and many others are not happy with all the skins being locked up in the 30 RNG pack. I like many others do not want to purchase every skin in that pack. Forcing players to get random skins until they get the one they want is wrong on so many levels. Also 2000 gems to get the Reforged Warhound is way overpriced. ANet would make far more sales of premium skins like the Reforged Warhound at 1000 gems than 2000. The additional sales would compensate for the decrease in price.

There needs to be a better way to acquire specific skins from that pack. It would in no way invalidate other player's previous RNG purchase of skins. What could be done is to allow players to purchase skins of their choice from the hero panel list of locked skins. Players could click on a locked skin and be given the option to purchase that skin for a specific amount of gems. Something like 500 gems for ones in the same quality as the ones in the 30 pack and 1000 gems for premium high quality ones that totally change the appearance of the mount. Doing it this way would keep the gem store from being overloaded with skins. The RNG license should be removed when this method to purchase was made available. Outfits and glider skins should be done the same way. Only new or featured ones could be directly listed on the gem store.

ANet could still offer themed packs in rotation like the Halloween ones. 2000 gems for that would be of a decent value as it would be lower than buying them separately although they should be available to be purchased individually on the hero panel at 500 gems as not everyone likes all the skins in the theme packs.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Shanky.4179 said:well, with a bs response like that they can expect backlash to continue. keep digging your grave Anet. As expected from a trash company like Ncsoft.

You didn't read many of the comments?It's the scenario of someone throwing a glass jar down the stairs while giggling, the person gets caught by the parents, the person say they won't do it again and the parents just going, "Aw, it's alright. Just make sure you don't do it again."Many are eating this up.

[JaddynnStarr.5201]

@Preyar.6783 said:

@JaddynnStarr.5201 said:

@Alga.6498 said:I will support and I will gladly purchase gemshop items, no matter what. If I like it of course. But I bought the 9,600 gems mount skin license contract because I love the variatons and the skins!

wow! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Am I rite fellas? is this what they have resorted to??? LITERALLY?!?!?!

Yeah shame on him/her for buying something he/she likes. /s

/snicker thanks! you have completely missed the point of the post!

[Tearthy Flame.1463]

For once I fell in love with the Developers again because of the Charity Live Stream for Children's Hospitals, that was amazing to see a community of gamer's from GW2 raise thousands of USD, enough to fund 3 kids that need chemotherapy. That takes a lot of effort to do and Rubi + Other Dev's did such a great job to make that possible. There's a lot of great community's in this MMO, and this behavior from you MO is awful for me to see, it's giving a reason for this game to fail. This needs to be better addressed with the right kind of compensation, not a timid excuse to not invalidate players that paid into that Mount Adoption.

[Zaoda.1653]

It's a shame that all I seem to get from this official response is 'sorry, not sorry, and nothing's going to change for this particular set of mount skins'. While I appreciate they will change things for future decisions, by not changing the current RNG aspect with these mount skins, I feel you're going to lose even more trust and respect in the community. There was quite a bit of 'justification' in the official response, and I don't think you realize that this defiance WILL permanently make players always have that mistrust in the back of their minds now, when it comes to Anet and their apologies when faced with severe backlash. With this RNG gambling aspect, I've lost more respect in Anet than I ever have before, and because you're deciding not to change a thing with these current mount skins and the RNG gambling aspect, I'll be sure to just sell drops I receive in game to convert to gems, and deliberately try to spend way less real life cash on the gemstore.

Don't get me wrong, Anet have every right to make money - you're a business, and you have to - and I DO like to support the game (I've spent well over $1,000 in gemstore purchases in my GW2 lifetime - so while the game may have no monthly subscription costs, I'd like to think that, normally, no one in their right mind would pay $1,000 or more for a game), but I simply will not support a game, when it comes to shady, deceitful, gambling tactics.

People will remember this defiant apology, and like Arya Stark from Game of Thrones says, "when people ask you what happened here, tell them the north remembers".

[AegisRunestone.8672]

I will never buy gems ever again. I can't trust you guys to balance the classes properly, and I can't trust you with the gemstore prices. No more.

[Windu The Forbidden One.60]

I must say I'm quite disappointed.

[Khisanth.2948]

@Preyar.6783 said:

@Skye.1572 said:"We won’t change the existing license in a way that would

invalidate the investment

players have made" - ArenaNet PROh, like they did with Town Clothes? Remember when they took out an entire feature and replaced it with something that made our purchases completely worthless? They took out all the mix and match customization and dying of them and gave us clothing tonics of fixed outfits and colors to replace the items. They gave us the option of gem refunds for our investment they invalidated if we wanted that instead of the tonics. So.... why can't they do that here? I know why. It's because they want us to gamble for the ones we want, or fork over the $120 to get all of them. It's not our investment they're worried about, it's theirs.

It's hard to take this halfhearted PR jargon seriously after reading that line.

They are actually making all town clothes into outfits, see

here

under

Outfits (retrofitted town clothes)

.

If next week those come out and the people who bought the town cloths have to repurchase the outfits ... things are going to get really ugly.

[morrolan.9608]

So you'll keep selling premium mount skins at an outrageous 2000 gems when premium outfits are more than half that. 2000 gems is also only marginally less than the cost of the entire PoF xpac, how do you justify that?

[xarallei.4279]

So....what about black lion chest account bound items? Are we going to see those gotten rid of, because imho they are worse than this mount license.

[Firebaall.5127]

Not good enough.

Get all RNG out of the gemshop. That's the solution.

[xarallei.4279]

People demanding or expecting the current mount license to change are unrealistic. Do you REALLY think Anet is going to change the license and basically screw over all the people who already put in the money to unlock all the skins? No, they aren't. I think this is a fair compromise as far as mounts go. There is still an issue with account bound item rng in the black lion chests that needs to be addressed.

[SaffronCity.3402]

@"Mike O Brien.4613" said: We won’t change the existing license in a way that would invalidate the investment players have made..."Ok, so now find a way to change the existing license that would not invalidate their investments. Luckily for you the thread is full of perfect ideas that seem to have a solution to your conundrum!!

[Menadena.7482]

Mike, if I have one question it is this:

What are you supposed to do if you do not HAVE a particular mount nor intend to get it (most likely the griffon) then get a skin for it? That does not unlock the griffon so you are out $5 of gems for nothing.

[hestiansun.1425]

How about you offer a refund of gems spent on all skins, if you are now going to revise the system? (By which I mean, all or nothing - give back all skins, get back all gems. Not cherry picking.)

I spent a considerable amount of of gems trying to get:

1. Any of the skins that had a slightly different model (as compared to the colored "pattern" of the skin) ideally
2. A skin for each mount so I could customize each with four channels of dye.

I ended up buying 9 licenses because my goal was just that. I didn't achieve EITHER goal - I got 9 skins that were all the same model, and didn't even get a jackal. (I did get a gryphon one, which will be great if/when I complete the achievement and get a gryphon)

I know I may just sound salty because I was on the bad end of RNG, but having obtained almost a third of the skins without ANY of one type of mount OR any of the different models or effect mount seems ridiculous.

Now I feel doubly screwed because having spent all of those gems "trying" to get one for each mount, within a few short days you are already saying there will be a way to buy them straight up without RNG.

[Myhr.9108]

Good enough for me. Wait and see for the next skins. Thematic bundles are what I'll be waiting for. In the meanwhile, I find basic skins to be more than enough.

[Vagrant.7206]

Thanks for the lip service! Maybe next time you can actually do something. :)

In the meantime, I'm DEFINITELY not going to spend any money on gems, even though I was considering it before this addition.

[Nocturn.8904]

@Erasculio.2914 said:

@"Mike O Brien.4613" said:Individual sale is a mechanic that works with a few, flashy skins. Using a grab bag mechanic gives us leeway to create skins to suit a wide range of player tastes while offering a lower price per skin.

I'm not so sure about that one. A pack consisting on nothing but making the standard skins fully dyable, with all four channels available, would likely sell very well. The "basic" skin the mounts come with aren't "the bland skins"; they are the first we see the mounts with, and I wouldn't be surprised if people get attached to them. In fact, I'm strongly hoping the future packs will have something simple like that, instead of skins that make big changes on how the mounts look (like the spooky mounts or the neon mounts).

This is exactly what I want: a package of 5 "plain" mount skins with more dye channels sold at a reasonable price. Still, one would hope that individual skins would be available for direct purchase, and not for 2k gems... That number is still a sucker punch just to look at. The mount adoption licenses are still as scummy as ever, so I guess we all better hope there are better alternatives soon. It's unfortunate that ANet doesn't seem willing to admit their mistake. Yes, you can make the argument that to change the system now wouldn't be fair to the players who already purchased licenses... but it was ANet's idea to implement this system in the first place, sit on it for a few days, and then act like their hands were tied.

People might be willing to forgive, but I guarantee you we won't forget.

[Cepheus.2957]

That is a fair compromise, in my opinion. I'm simply not a gambler by any stretch of the word, so the chance of me investing in random boxes is nearly nonexistent. That said, I find this fair because I can look forward to more easily purchasable cosmetics, and if I ever get the impulse, I may invest in a random crate, all while those who have purchased randoms thus far aren't hurt.

In any case, I most appreciate the transparency and communication with the people. It's hard these days to have a two-sided conversation with any developers on a personal level, you know? At the very least, I hope people can appreciate that.

[Cantatus.4065]

@Mike O Brien.4613 said:

Here are some of the benefits we had in mind when designing the Mount Adoption License:

• You get a brand-new, unique mount skin every time, for a substantial discount versus an individual purchase price.
• It uses a progressive mechanic. Every license gives you a new skin to use and increases the odds of acquiring any remaining skins.
• You’ve requested variety, and this is a way to support variety. Individual sale is a mechanic that works with a few, flashy skins. Using a grab bag mechanic gives us leeway to create skins to suit a wide range of player tastes while offering a lower price per skin.

I understand all of these points and think they are completely valid and make sense. However, I think one thing you neglect to consider is how much it sucks to be aiming at getting a specific mount and repeatedly losing out (which is how someone is going to view it even if they are still getting a mount every time). Yes, the odds move more in your favor, but the odds are still stacked against you. Consider that even if I buy 20 licenses and never got what I really wanted (which is not a stretch), the odds of getting what I want on my next license would still be 90% against me. At that point I would've spent between 6800 and 8000 gems and likely to feel dejected and disappointed. The highest the odds ever go is like flipping a coin. Making a system where a player can spend well over $100 and still not get what you're aiming for is never going to be something that feels like it favors the consumer no matter how you lay out the benefits of it, and in an industry where keeping players happy so they continue to play and spend money, that's paramount.

Personally, I'd like to defend the system because I do think there are benefits to it, particularly compared to other methods, and likely beyond reasons you have laid out due to being things that are more beneficial to Anet. However, as it currently stands, I think many people bring up valid points against it. The randomness of the system feels more like a way of artificially inflating the prices rather than giving us any sort of discount, but at the same time, I do think it's a mistake to not try to compromise to have the system be more acceptable to the customers while still maintaining most of the framework that's beneficial to you. A good way of doing this would be to allow us to have a guaranteed pick after we buy a specific number of licenses. For example, after purchasing 4 licenses, your 5th allows you to choose whichever of the remaining 30 mounts you want. At that point, someone would've had to spend around 2000 gems, so shouldn't they be able to walk away happy? It has the benefit of creating a fairer system for us while also incentivizing buying more licenses to the type of consumer who is more likely to get discouraged after a couple tries at getting what they want.

Don't mistake backlash against this system as there being no way it could be improved to be more acceptable to customers.

[Menadena.7482]

@Feyhen.7432 said:I hope this is a we-tried-one-time-and-i-didnt-work-never-again. I bought the most expensive version of the Expansion to help Anet and investing in the future of the game but not to fund implementing rng-methods. I will hand have to refuse to invest in this system what so ever and i hope enough will follow suit. I will have to consider spending so much money on the next expansion to come. This is not the Anet i like spending Gems on.

Same here, I have bought the ultimate of both expansions, 2 (deluxe) base games, and untold gems. I did not do that just to have fun, anet was fair to me so I wanted to support them back. Well, so much for spending money to play nice.

[BrotherHolmes.5941]

I really don't see why people are blowing this out of proportion. I love that GW2 doesn't have monthly fees, even though I spend more on gems than a monthly fee would cost. The people at ArenaNet need to make money some how. I like the fact that this mount thing is a guaranteed unlock. I bought the 30 pack so I could bypass the randomness. I do think that limiting the 30 pack to only 7 days is kinda mean though. Some people need time to save up the money. I REALLY wish that the gem store dye packs were a guaranteed unlock. I bought some of those once and just got dyes that I have had for years already. Despite little issues like that though, I think they are doing a very good job, and ArenaNet has my support! ..... On a side note: Please bring back the kite maker! I bought a kite on the gem store and then I found out the NPC was removed.

[Kalibri.5861]

@xarallei.4279 said:People demanding or expecting the current mount license to change are unrealistic. Do you REALLY think Anet is going to change the license and basically screw over all the people who already put in the money to unlock all the skins? No, they aren't. I think this is a fair compromise as far as mounts go. There is still an issue with account bound item rng in the black lion chests that needs to be addressed.

You're being unrealistic if you think there's no good way for them to revert this. They know who bought these items. If they divide up the adoption licenses into individual skins and put them up for sale in the shop, then refund everybody's gems and let them buy the skins they want (like they should've done in the first place) then nobody is screwed over. This isn't any sort of compromise. This is ArenaNet saying 'yeahhh, but noooo...'.

[Jordo.5913]

@BrotherHolmes.5941 said:I really don't see why people are blowing this out of proportion. I love that GW2 doesn't have monthly fees, even though I spend more on gems than a monthly fee would cost. The people at ArenaNet need to make money some how. I like the fact that this mount thing is a guaranteed unlock. I bought the 30 pack so I could bypass the randomness. I do think that limiting the 30 pack to only 7 days is kinda mean though. Some people need time to save up the money. I REALLY wish that the gem store dye packs were a guaranteed unlock. I bought some of those once and just got dyes that I have had for years already. Despite little issues like that though, I think they are doing a very good job, and ArenaNet has my support! ..... On a side note: Please bring back the kite maker! I bought a kite on the gem store and then I found out the NPC was removed.

I'd rather pay 15 bucks a month and be able to earn these skins in game but ALSO be able to target which one I want. Get the fucking RNG out of this game.