Winter's Presence collection too expensive to complete

[Handsel.2891]

There is a title in this game, accompanied by 5 Achievement Points, that you can buy for a flat 1000 gold. But, since it's not as "flashy" as, say, Winter's Presence is, nobody complains about it. I find this amusing.

Prestige items are meant to be hard to get or expensive. What's the point of an exclusive shoulder skin if everyone is running around wearing one? It should not be made cheaper just because you want it but find it difficult to get. For one thing, that would invalidate the effort of everyone who already has it. For another, you would only feel special for a minute or two, until you see every second or third player wearing it. 

They are also obvious gold sinks, only not as blatantly as that title I mentioned. Take them or leave them.

[Sugar Min.5834]

Gold sink for the super rich, untouchable for the rest. And not forgetting there are players who would spend hundreds of dollars to buy gems for gold conversion. Perhaps this is the main reason for making it so expensive, easy money for Anet.

[mythical.6315]

58 minutes ago, Mil.3562 said:

Gold sink for the super rich, untouchable for the rest. And not forgetting there are players who would spend hundreds of dollars to buy gems for gold conversion. Perhaps this is the main reason for making it so expensive, easy money for Anet.

Uh huh… sure. Players can make more than enough over the year to buy it through selling login rewards and doing the dailies. 

[Firebeard.1746]

7 hours ago, Mallios.9154 said:

So here we are in 2021, and it's still hundreds of gold to gain. Sure, I could sink about 40 or more bucks for it, but that makes this one shoulder skin cost more than the mount skins. How does that register as fair? How much money are you making to throw that much away on pixel shoulder items? What if you're someone who enjoys an icy motif, but doesn't make bank enough to have the pocket change required for this? What if you can't commit the time to gradually acquiring that sort of in-game money to get it? Especially when mystic coins from login rewards are a key way many people make their in-game money, because farming gold in this game is more tedious than most other MMOs. Some people have lives outside of this game, they can't be expected to perform all that's required for one armor skin.
If the skin was easier to acquire upon its initial release, why is it fair that it's been changed to a paygate? It's interesting how most MMOs just have players perform daily holiday quests for holiday currency tokens, and they can just buy holiday rewards from a holiday vendor with that. Nothing more. Why does GW2 tie in event rewards to their broken in-game economy? I suppose the obvious answer is that GW2 has no subscription option, so ANet is forced to find any means of compelling players to drop real money to acquire in-game content.
Let's eschew giving players snow shoulders for the snowflake event item in favor of compelling them to drop what's left of a paycheck on it!

The arguments here against making this item easier to acquire are just sociopathic.
"Well if you can't get it, don't." Yeah, because one has a choice in something they can't do. Nothing in a game should amount to something one cannot do. Completing raids? Sure, those may be challenging. But acquiring a seasonal shoulder skin? No, that should definitely never come to this.
"If you aren't willing to put in the effort, then don't get it." Since when did games become a job that gives you a bill instead of a check? Why did they stop being simple fun? Why are snow shoulders demanding of this sort of effort?
"It should remain difficult and expensive so it remains rare." That makes legitimately no sense. Why should rarity matter in an MMO? Why do you take this game so seriously so as to place rarity upon a cosmetic item? Do you need consultation and revaluation of your life and the decisions you've made so far? Why should other players be forced to stare in awe at something they can't achieve? That only stirs resentment against the company, which can amass against their favor.
"You wouldn't go to [Enter Big Expensive Brand Company Here] and complain about their products being too expensive." This is all pixels, so why should they be expensive at all? These shoulders aren't meticulously engineered tangible objects made from costly material, they're just bits of code that can be given out infinitely. A push of a few buttons, and they'd be easy to acquire; real items from big expensive brands can't all be readily mass produced in that manner. These aren't luxurious Corinthian pixels derived from a nonrenewable resource during an exceptionally profitable yesteryear, they're just any other form of binary code. Stop comparing actual apples to fictional oranges.
"Shiny items should be hard to get." Define 'shiny' and how more readily available things don't fall into that category. GW2, like most all MMOs, are full of flashy items. What makes snowfall shoulders "shinier" than countless weapon skins that can be bought for far less on the auction house? I could acquire a good chunk of the Glacial weapon set for the amount required for this item. Where's your sense of net equity? It's all arbitrary, yet you defend something which was decidedly upon randomly as if the reasoning was etched in stone carried down from some sacred antediluvian era. Stop being such a simp.
"Players decide the cost on the market, so you can't fault ANet." Sure you can, because the item is so meticulously acquired that it would naturally drive up the cost of the prerequisite items. GW2's auction market is already notoriously broken, enabled by ANet because it incentivizes people to buy Gems to convert into Gold to then acquire immaterial things. This item requires a large sum of Mystic Coins, which are always expensive because of their use in many far more valuable items, and other niche items that will surge in price simply because of their use in this. The only item you can readily acquire without dropping money are the snowflakes during the course of the event. More tedious are the snowballs, which will require a considerable amount of Karma to acquire.

It's a video game. Nothing in this game should be terribly difficult or expensive to acquire. All-in-all, all the arguments against this item being easier to acquire amount to the typical internet idiocy of "GIT GUD," which doesn't speak well to the credit of the people saying it.

This is fashion wars. Anything that looks cool costs tons of money, there would literally be no endgame without this fact. THe market value of any legendary trinket is literally in the thousands of gold. flashy things are end game, and legendaries are far worse than WP. They're specifically what the devs designed this game around, if you want it fast, then you should learn to farm. 

Learn conversions. That's all I can say. When I made mine, I had been doing tons of Thunderhead peaks, so I basically instant sold a ton of diviner's gear as it was still a nice profit (I got about 1/2 way through the collection and ran out of gold). I don't think Diviner's is as valueable now as it was then, but it's the same concept. 

Daily t4 fracs are another option. 

Everything in this game has value and once you learn to convert it to gold, you'll start making money and not know where it comes from. try the EU fast farming community website, you might be sitting on gobs of a currency or material that can make you tons. 

You should also wait until the festival to complete, this is probably not the best time to try. Though wintersday gifts have fallen since the halloween festival has started. 

[Khisanth.2948]

3 hours ago, mythical.6315 said:

Uh huh… sure. Players can make more than enough over the year to buy it through selling login rewards and doing the dailies. 

Around half a year of pretty casual play(log in, do daily, do some festival stuff, do some story, do a bit of gathering while going from A to B) should be enough. That is what I do on my alt account it has around 680g ... well it would have it if I didn't spend 180g on it 3 months ago and then another 180g yesterday. 😛

On the other hand there is still several thousand gold in material storage.

The amount of effort for the above isn't very high so I wonder how little effort people are willing to actually spend to get things they want. The most "hardcore" bit is logging in daily and doing the dailies ...

Edited October 20, 2021 by Khisanth.2948

[Sobx.1758]

12 hours ago, Mallios.9154 said:

The arguments here against making this item easier to acquire are just sociopathic.
"Well if you can't get it, don't." Yeah, because one has a choice in something they can't do. Nothing in a game should amount to something one cannot do. Completing raids? Sure, those may be challenging. But acquiring a seasonal shoulder skin? No, that should definitely never come to this.
"If you aren't willing to put in the effort, then don't get it." Since when did games become a job that gives you a bill instead of a check? Why did they stop being simple fun? Why are snow shoulders demanding of this sort of effort?

Nothing sociopatic or even out of ordinary for games to require the players to complete tasks for the reward.

This is not a situation where you "cannot do something". You can play the game, farm -or save up- the gold/resources and complete the achievements. If you don't want to do it, then it's still your choice. It's not your job, it's still an mmorpg with some long term goals and rewards that will naturally require you to do more than for the other stuff you constantly get. Again: nothing out of ordinary and definitely your choice.

Quote

Nothing in this game should be terribly difficult or expensive to acquire.

Why? Because you want everything easier and faster? I don't see how that's a valid argument.

Quote

All-in-all, all the arguments against this item being easier to acquire amount to the typical internet idiocy of "GIT GUD," which doesn't speak well to the credit of the people saying it.

"Put some effort in" or "see it as a long term goal" has nothing to do with saying "git gud" like you try to claim for some reason.

And no, I don't have that skin. Can I get it? Yup. Maybe I'll get it this year, maybe I'll get it later, maybe never. For now I don't get it, because I've made a choice, just like you. If you don't want to bother with it then just don't, it's just that simple.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Sobx.1758

[Handsel.2891]

5 hours ago, Mil.3562 said:

Gold sink for the super rich, untouchable for the rest. And not forgetting there are players who would spend hundreds of dollars to buy gems for gold conversion. Perhaps this is the main reason for making it so expensive, easy money for Anet.

At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, I've never bought a single gem with real money and still managed to get a hold of Winter's Presence. And a lot of other things as well. Granted, I have 7000 hours in the game, but spread across the past 9 years, it could have been much, much more.

My point is, what items you have depends on what you decide to focus on and not how much money you throw at the game.

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Nightfury cost 1000 gold

Winter's presence is 600g

Sounds right to me.

[genjonah.1253]

Keep shiny things shiny and long term to obtain. Seriously, the entitlement angle is very old

 

(from someone who doesn’t have this particular shiny, though I did spend the ridiculous amount of time and effort to get Nightfury when it was about 1600g to obtain everything)

[titje.2745]

I want the ghost wolf mini from Halloween. But it’s 110 candy corn. That’s 400+ gold. It’s a nice mini. But not worth to farm whole event in lab to buy it. I just skip it again this year. 
If you want something very bad you can go for it like I wanted nevermore. 

 

[Deedrick.4372]

On 10/21/2021 at 4:51 AM, titje.2745 said:

I want the ghost wolf mini from Halloween. But it’s 110 candy corn. That’s 400+ gold. It’s a nice mini. But not worth to farm whole event in lab to buy it. I just skip it again this year. 
If you want something very bad you can go for it like I wanted nevermore. 

 

Or you can luck out like I did and get it on a random unlock. That map was well worth mapping lol.

[Shinjiko.1352]

I think we're all ignoring the main issue here ....

You still cannot equip a scarf with the snow because it's a shoulder slot skin and not an infusion!

Still waiting for the day I can enjoy my racing scarf or regular scarf with this effect :(.

[genjonah.1253]

28 minutes ago, Shinjiko.1352 said:

I think we're all ignoring the main issue here ....

You still cannot equip a scarf with the snow because it's a shoulder slot skin and not an infusion!

Still waiting for the day I can enjoy my racing scarf or regular scarf with this effect :(.

That I will absolutely give you. It’s my issue with Nightfury, as well- I pretty much don’t wear it on heavy or even medium armor characters because they look so incomplete to me without shoulder gear. A lot of light character looks can get away with it, but yeah 

[ugrakarma.9416]

actually 600g~1600g is pale compared to EOD collections lol..

[Astralporing.1957]

29 minutes ago, ugrakarma.9416 said:

actually 600g~1600g is pale compared to EOD collections lol..

Do you have any inside info about EoD collections, or are you assuming?

[Pifil.5193]

13 hours ago, ugrakarma.9416 said:

actually 600g~1600g is pale compared to EOD collections lol..

Did you mean IBS collections?

[ugrakarma.9416]

 

On 10/23/2021 at 5:17 PM, Astralporing.1957 said:

Do you have any inside info about EoD collections, or are you assuming?

 

14 hours ago, Pifil.5193 said:

Did you mean IBS collections?

 

Sry i mean ibs.

[TDC.1627]

My only issue with winters pressence is that if you got in early as in the first winters day when the sigils were dropping like crazy then you were fine. Its only now that they no longer drop (or are super rare) or craft them that the expense of this went right up.

 

Same with Night fury.

[Linken.6345]

53 minutes ago, TDC.1627 said:

My only issue with winters pressence is that if you got in early as in the first winters day when the sigils were dropping like crazy then you were fine. Its only now that they no longer drop (or are super rare) or craft them that the expense of this went right up.

 

Same with Night fury.

Yea but cost on other material went down ( the alcohol for example) so it is actualy cheaper now then back then.

[Danikat.8537]

I've never gotten Winter's Presence, and never had enough gold in my wallet during Wintersday to buy it, but I'm certain I could if I wanted to. (I don't like the animation and I think it would get annoying on my characters, so I don't want it.)

I could probably get the gold now by selling off materials in storage (I only have 1 storage upgrade, so maximum 500 of each item, and many are well below that, but you'd be surprised how quickly it adds up).

Or alternatives I'd take my time with it. Do the bits which can't be done at other times during Wintersday, and use sites like GW2 Spidy (linked on the Wiki) which track item prices to work out the best time of year to buy each item - for example Superior Sigils of Mischief typically dip in price in March-April (but I'd also check the cost of crafting them myself) and get everything ready for next Wintersday (or whenever I'm done if you can finish the collection outside the festival).

Either way I'd use this Wintersday to farm presents and karma to buy more presents, then sell them for gold. If I'm waiting until next Wintersday to make it I'd split the farming between Halloween and Wintersday to make it less tedious.

So definitely a long-term goal however you do it (including selling off materials you've already got, because it takes time to collect them so they're available to sell off) but still possible without buying gems to convert and without spending loads of time in one go.

[Funky.4861]

6 hours ago, Nightshade.5924 said:

*Snip*

On the other hand, after around THREE HUNDRED ATTEMPTS, I have NOT ONCE, NOT ONE TIME, gotten to the first rest stop.  For clarity, that's that fire area right after the snowflakes that melt from under your feet.

 

That's right.  I have NEVER ONCE PROGRESSED MORE THAN HALFWAY thru that accursed puzzle.  I want that requirement either REMOVED OR CHANGED.  Forcing those of us who hate and CANNOT DO JUMPING PUZZLES to DO such puzzles is the one thing that Arena Net does that really makes me question why I stay with GW2 at all.

You know that there's an easy path where the snowflakes don't melt after someone steps on them and your hp drains slower? Watch some youtube videos- they tell you what to avoid and the fastest way to do the end bit (after the presents).

[Super Hayes.6890]

3 hours ago, Funky.4861 said:

You know that there's an easy path where the snowflakes don't melt after someone steps on them and your hp drains slower? Watch some youtube videos- they tell you what to avoid and the fastest way to do the end bit (after the presents).

Speaking as someone who couldn't finish that puzzle for years, even the easy path is terrible for those of us that struggle with jumping puzzles. Any time you impose a time limit on a jumping puzzle there is a subset of us that cannot do it. The easy path should not drain health frankly. Though, this is one of the best set up puzzles as it has difficulty settings.

[Fuchslein.8639]

But even with life drain, you have so much time. They even removed the disappearing snowflakes with the easy one. How simple do you want it to be?

I'm doing Winter Presence the second time now, since I've been playing with a new account for months and the only challenge is really farming the gold or the gifts for the drinks. The rest is just a matter of practice.
And even if you don't get it done for whatever reason, you don't have to have everything and beg for things to be made even easier to spoil the fun for others uu...

Really don't understand where this mentality comes from that you have to have everything. And therefore anet must adapt everything to all players, so that everyone can have everything without any challenges ...

[Donari.5237]

19 hours ago, Nightshade.5924 said:

 But I stopped there after banging my head against the impossitard Jumping Puzzle from Hades. 

I'm sorry some of the responses were unkind.  I also could not do that puzzle for years.  It was only last year that I learned the right hand platform as you enter, the one with a big stuffed quaggan on it, has non-disappearing flakes that would let me take occasional moments to recenter my mouse on my pad.  I set to working on that path.  And it wasn't easy.  I got sweaty hands, shaky muscles, a sore neck from craning at the screen.  I fell constantly (mostly on the candy cane parts, I suck at jumping onto narrow bars due to how I need my camera set vs motion sickness).  A few times I'd make it to the campfire, and get obliterated once past it (darn those disappearing presents and rolling snowboulders).  I made sure to monitor how I was physically doing and just stop my attempts if I got too tense, which might mean only a couple of fifteen minute sessions a day.

But I made it.  And when I made it once, I was encouraged to do it again.  Enough times for the achieve, enough times for Winter's Presence.  Enough to do it as a daily, even!  I haven't touched it this year except to show it to a friend and probably won't try it since I have tendonitis in my left hand and don't need to make that worse.

I hope you can try it.  Just in little bursts.  Just learning the timing.  There is time to stop and breathe on the flakes, to readjust your mouse.  You can't just afk up there but if a particular spot is tricky you will have some room to take your time on it.  If you don't go for it, that's fine too.  The Winter's Presence snow can cause motion sickness, it's not a must have!

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Winter's Presence costs ~600g to craft. The Mystic Tribute I just made is ~1,300g to craft, and is only one small component of a much more expensive whole. Guess which one looks better and has more effects?

 

Winter's Presence.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Hannelore.8153