Black Lion Statuette

[Dreams.3128]

People had an outcry for the mounts, but not these dumb ass chests yet.

I swear I hate humans sometimes and their clear hypocrisy.

[Fiontar.4695]

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:The idea was admirable, but the costs are ridiculously outrageous. Adding insult to injury, these take up a guaranteed slot and the mini takes up a guaranteed slot, so you only get two rolls at something on the actual random loot table.

Not true, you can get up to 5 items now.

I opened my freebee. Statue takes a slot, mini takes a slot, only two slots for rolls on the loot table. Explain how you get five.You get five the same way you've been getting four for a while now.

You have a chance at getting an uncommon extra item. You had 2 slots from roll and one chance for uncommon.2 guaranteed + 2 rolls + 1 chance for extra uncommon roll

Actually, these are worse than I realized. Thank you for making me read the fine print.

Each chest offers a guaranteed black lion statue, a guaranteed mini jackal, two random commons and a (slim) chance at a single role on the loot table for items of greater rarity than common! This is horrible!

So let's see, the gold standard is Overwatch loot boxes. You get four full rolls at the full loot table and, yes, you can get very luck and end up with four rares or super rares from a single chest. On the loot table is random currency awards that let you buy any item from the loot table directly. In my experience, you can typically buy a rare of your choice for every ~ $30-$40 spent. On top of a fair loot table and the rewards you get from your actual rolls.

Then we have BLCs, that are probably among the least fair in any western game. They can do much better and make more money by being more fair and reasonable with their customers.

I'm still not sure how that's worse than before. You get the same system + 1 extra statuette. These statuettes will let you buy pretty much anything you want (except super rare, permanent contracts)/Not taking into account the number of rolls, it's pretty similar to Overwatch now (give the description you gave to it).

Before they were throwing at you useless bank express, merchant etc that are absolutely useless if you got the permanent contract. To this day I still have STACKS of bank expresses that I cant use, can't trade, can't even gift to friends. And only reason Im keeping them is in hope they let us trade a few stacks against a permanent someday.

Compared to that, I see the recent changes as improvement, I dont know how it compares to Overwatch though.

To be anything like Overwatch, we'd have four full rolls on the full loot table. And, average enough black lion statues to buy a rare of our choice for every ~25 BLCs we open.

Sorry never played this stupid game. Why should overwatch be an example for GW2?

The player base for online games has really been blowing up in recent months over the fairness of micro-transactions and random loot boxes in particular. Destiny 2 is flailing as a result of the backlash and Destiny 2's loot boxes aren't even as bad as GW2's. Overwatch as a game isn't going to be directly comparable to all other online games. It is, however, considered in general, to be one of the few games that does random loot boxes in a way that is fair to players. That's why their system has become a standard by which to judge other game's implementation of random loot boxes.

It's not just an issue for players looking for fairness, Overwatch (published by Blizzard), is increasingly looked to as a standard by other game companies because not only does it strike a good balance from a player perspective, but it has been extremely rewarding to the publisher, with higher micro-transaction participation rates among their players and higher average returns per player than the industry standard, by far.

That's why BLCs are so frustrating to me. I want Arenanet to be successful financially and they would do much better if they would implement a fair BLC system that would still tap their "whales", while greatly broadening player participation in their business model and increasing average revenue generated per player. The implementation of the black lion statue just shows that they refuse to learn. They will pay lip service to the fans, but they just always find a way to be so stingy that there is no real benefit to players or their bottom line. Every time they screw up, they then feel "obliged" to not fix it out of "fairness" to those who have already paid in to an unfair system.

Frustrating to watch.

[Sojourner.4621]

@"Fiontar.4695" said:Adding insult to injury, these take up a guaranteed slot and the mini takes up a guaranteed slot, so you only get two rolls at something on the actual random loot table.

They ADD a new gauranteed slot. There was only ONE guaranteed slot before, and two roll slots... now there are TWO guaranteed slots and two roll slots, and there is STILL a chance of a rare or better extra roll, just like before. There is NO way this "adds insult to injury" unless you're terrible at math.

When judging the costs, remember that a key costs roughly $1.00 a piece , depending on how you buy them. $100 dollars worth of chests to purchase a harvesting node? Gimme a break.

There is also a chance to get extra statues from the chest, up to 35 extra from a rare drop roll... which means that a single chest could get you a third of the way towards one of those nodes, in theory. I bought five chests, got 10 statues, in practice. You could do worse ofc, but you can also do better.

We should get 1-10 black lion statues with each chest, weighted to average ~3.5 per chest. None of the prices for black lion statue vendors should go up, but some, even with the increase in statues per chest, still would need to be adjusted downward a bit. The minis should just be commons on the loot table, not a guaranteed item. We should get three rolls on the current loot tables per key.

You can get 1-36 statues per chest, technically.

Not going to dissect the rest, it is 100% based on flawed premises to begin with, and assumptions that are blatantly not true and only made to spread disinformation.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

Black Lion Chests are bags of junk. They have always been bags of junk and they always will be. Their entire value is entertainment: that moment right before you open the chest is (for some people) exciting. For some, it's worth a little coin/cash to imagine that they might get an amazing drop which will be game changing for them (either in convenience or coin that they can generate).

The new statuettes add to the chances by putting a maximum on the number of chests you need to open to get some of the coveted items. This feature isn't going to make the BL keys "worth" 90 gems; it just means that people no longer have to pray to RNGesus to get some of the specific items. That makes it more fun for some people, while it remains an irrelevant point for others.(By the way, nothing is taken away: last week, there was only one guaranteed drop and two randoms; this week, there's still two randoms, but there's two guaranteed drops.)

Let's take a simple example: VIP lounge passes cost 150 gems bought directly from Evon Gnashblade. Or, you can spend 4 statuettes to obtain the same pass. With a single statuette guaranteed as a drop, it would take a maximum of 4 chests to afford one pass. If you buy keys at the bulk discount price of 2100 gems/25 keys, you'd spend 360 gems for those 4 statuettes. Thus it's far less than half the cost to buy the item directly; the big advantage is knowing that you won't have to spend more than 360 even if you're unlucky.

There are still unlocks that drop only randomly, but the vast majority of unlocks have this new alternative. That's a really huge improvement in the chests. However, it still won't make the keys worth the money. After all, they are still intended to be a lottery: they offer mostly junk, with a small chance of vaguely useful junk, a tiny chance of interesting junk, and only an infinitesimal chance of the really nice stuff.

---

Put in simplest terms:

• Spend on BL keys if and only if you enjoy the moment right before opening.
• Do not spend if you are looking for a good investment; there are far better ways to convert gems or gold into more gold.
• If you are looking for a specific drop, you now can identify the maximum amount that you'll spend. That won't make keys a "good deal;" it just means you know the worst case scenario.

[Sojourner.4621]

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:The idea was admirable, but the costs are ridiculously outrageous. Adding insult to injury, these take up a guaranteed slot and the mini takes up a guaranteed slot, so you only get two rolls at something on the actual random loot table.

Not true, you can get up to 5 items now.

I opened my freebee. Statue takes a slot, mini takes a slot, only two slots for rolls on the loot table. Explain how you get five.You get five the same way you've been getting four for a while now.

You have a chance at getting an uncommon extra item. You had 2 slots from roll and one chance for uncommon.2 guaranteed + 2 rolls + 1 chance for extra uncommon roll

Actually, these are worse than I realized. Thank you for making me read the fine print.

Each chest offers a guaranteed black lion statue, a guaranteed mini jackal, two random commons and a (slim) chance at a single role on the loot table for items of greater rarity than common! This is horrible!

So let's see, the gold standard is Overwatch loot boxes. You get four full rolls at the full loot table and, yes, you can get very luck and end up with four rares or super rares from a single chest. On the loot table is random currency awards that let you buy any item from the loot table directly. In my experience, you can typically buy a rare of your choice for every ~ $30-$40 spent. On top of a fair loot table and the rewards you get from your actual rolls.

Then we have BLCs, that are probably among the least fair in any western game. They can do much better and make more money by being more fair and reasonable with their customers.

Wrong again, the two roll slots can be common or better. They can absolutely role rares or even ultra-rares in the two empty slots, just like they always could. The chance at an extra slot is a guaranteed better, but that doesn't mean you can't get better from the two random slots. Again you're reading in to systems that aren't real, and looking like a kitten in the process.

[Ok I Did It.2854]

@Palador.2170 said:Okay, this thing is long overdue. Basically, it's a currency that you get one of with each BL Chest you open. You can use them to buy rare things from the BL chest contents, like the home instance nodes. (No, none of the ultra-rare stuff seems to be there.)

Some of the prices seem really high to me, but I guess that's fine. 100 statuettes for a node, or 60 for the Elemental Sword skin seems like a lot, but now I know that I WILL be able to get them if I open enough chests. That's a big improvement.

Thoughts?

The rates seem ok, I know people who opened up 600 BL Chests and never got that Ele Sword, so if they had to open 60 now and get it guaranteed im fairly certain they'd do it,

People have been asking for a token system for along time in game, providing Anet keep this system and don't run it for 3 months and then remove it again, almost like forcing people to buy a stupid amount of keys now, but yea if its going to be long term then the rates are ok.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Ok I Did It.2854 said:

@"Palador.2170" said:Okay, this thing is long overdue. Basically, it's a currency that you get one of with each BL Chest you open. You can use them to buy rare things from the BL chest contents, like the home instance nodes. (No, none of the ultra-rare stuff seems to be there.)

Some of the prices seem really high to me, but I guess that's fine. 100 statuettes for a node, or 60 for the Elemental Sword skin seems like a lot, but now I know that I WILL be able to get them if I open enough chests. That's a big improvement.

Thoughts?

The rates seem ok, I know people who opened up 600 BL Chests and never got that Ele Sword, so if they had to open 60 now and get it guaranteed im fairly certain they'd do it,

Yes, that is an example of how the new mechanic is much better. People can ask the simple question: am I prepared to buy 60 keys to guarantee the unlock I want? (or 50 or 100 keys).

Incidentally, there's a cheaper source for the Elemental Sword. 60 keys cost 5400 gems, which is worth 1350 gold at last week's exchange rate (more today, since the new mechanic causes a rate spike). Alternatively, one can purchase the Black Lion Exclusives Chest on the TP. That gives you a (guaranteed) choice of several formerly exclusive drops, including the Elemental Sword. TP prices were ~400-650 gold when I checked recently, so that's half the cost.

That's great for those wanting the elemental sword skin or jackal pup, but there are other unlocks available via statuettes that don't have an alternative on the TP.

[Arlette.9684]

Still utter garbage

[Murke.7193]

This is the first time that I am willing to buy keys with money.

I know the loot boxes aren't a good deal, but the old system never appealed to me because I felt like I could open 1000 boxes and there'd be a good chance I wouldn't get a single thing I actually wanted. I have 0 interest in the rez stones, teleport to friends, primers, buffs and etc that most people probably appreciate, so for me they simply weren't worth it. With the recent changes, I know that if I open 10 chests I will at least get 1 makeover kit, so it isn't a waste. Now if I open 1000 boxes I am guaranteed I will get a surplus of awesome things that I actually want and maybe some other cool stuff too that I didn't even know I wanted, like the new griffon glider. I love this change.

[GrubySzymek.1362]

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:The idea was admirable, but the costs are ridiculously outrageous. Adding insult to injury, these take up a guaranteed slot and the mini takes up a guaranteed slot, so you only get two rolls at something on the actual random loot table.

Not true, you can get up to 5 items now.

I opened my freebee. Statue takes a slot, mini takes a slot, only two slots for rolls on the loot table. Explain how you get five.You get five the same way you've been getting four for a while now.

You have a chance at getting an uncommon extra item. You had 2 slots from roll and one chance for uncommon.2 guaranteed + 2 rolls + 1 chance for extra uncommon roll

Actually, these are worse than I realized. Thank you for making me read the fine print.

Each chest offers a guaranteed black lion statue, a guaranteed mini jackal, two random commons and a (slim) chance at a single role on the loot table for items of greater rarity than common! This is horrible!

So let's see, the gold standard is Overwatch loot boxes. You get four full rolls at the full loot table and, yes, you can get very luck and end up with four rares or super rares from a single chest. On the loot table is random currency awards that let you buy any item from the loot table directly. In my experience, you can typically buy a rare of your choice for every ~ $30-$40 spent. On top of a fair loot table and the rewards you get from your actual rolls.

Then we have BLCs, that are probably among the least fair in any western game. They can do much better and make more money by being more fair and reasonable with their customers.

I'm still not sure how that's worse than before. You get the same system + 1 extra statuette. These statuettes will let you buy pretty much anything you want (except super rare, permanent contracts)/Not taking into account the number of rolls, it's pretty similar to Overwatch now (give the description you gave to it).

Before they were throwing at you useless bank express, merchant etc that are absolutely useless if you got the permanent contract. To this day I still have STACKS of bank expresses that I cant use, can't trade, can't even gift to friends. And only reason Im keeping them is in hope they let us trade a few stacks against a permanent someday.

Compared to that, I see the recent changes as improvement, I dont know how it compares to Overwatch though.

To be anything like Overwatch, we'd have four full rolls on the full loot table. And, average enough black lion statues to buy a rare of our choice for every ~25 BLCs we open.

Sorry never played this stupid game. Why should overwatch be an example for GW2?

The player base for online games has really been blowing up in recent months over the fairness of micro-transactions and random loot boxes in particular. Destiny 2 is flailing as a result of the backlash and Destiny 2's loot boxes aren't even as bad as GW2's. Overwatch as a game isn't going to be directly comparable to all other online games. It is, however, considered in general, to be one of the few games that does random loot boxes in a way that is fair to players. That's why their system has become a standard by which to judge other game's implementation of random loot boxes.

It's not just an issue for players looking for fairness, Overwatch (published by Blizzard), is increasingly looked to as a standard by other game companies because not only does it strike a good balance from a player perspective, but it has been extremely rewarding to the publisher, with higher micro-transaction participation rates among their players and higher average returns per player than the industry standard, by far.

That's why BLCs are so frustrating to me. I want Arenanet to be successful financially and they would do much better if they would implement a fair BLC system that would still tap their "whales", while greatly broadening player participation in their business model and increasing average revenue generated per player. The implementation of the black lion statue just shows that they refuse to learn. They will pay lip service to the fans, but they just always find a way to be so stingy that there is no real benefit to players or their bottom line. Every time they screw up, they then feel "obliged" to not fix it out of "fairness" to those who have already paid in to an unfair system.

Frustrating to watch.

Game dev industry doesn't care what you think about their gambling boxes as long as there are people paying for them. No amount of forum whining will change what anet does with BLCs. Or any company.

The faster you accept it's customers' fault these practices are being exploited in every game, the faster you will find balance.

[Astralporing.1957]

@Palador.2170 said:Okay, this thing is long overdue. Basically, it's a currency that you get one of with each BL Chest you open. You can use them to buy rare things from the BL chest contents, like the home instance nodes. (No, none of the ultra-rare stuff seems to be there.)

Some of the prices seem really high to me, but I guess that's fine. 100 statuettes for a node, or 60 for the Elemental Sword skin seems like a lot, but now I know that I WILL be able to get them if I open enough chests. That's a big improvement.

Thoughts?The main question is whether it's a permanent addiction to the chests, or a seasonal one. If it's permanent, then the prices (albeit high) may be somewhat acceptable. If it's going to be removed at some point however, the prices are way too high.

[Sojourner.4621]

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Palador.2170 said:Okay, this thing is long overdue. Basically, it's a currency that you get one of with each BL Chest you open. You can use them to buy rare things from the BL chest contents, like the home instance nodes. (No, none of the ultra-rare stuff seems to be there.)

Some of the prices seem really high to me, but I guess that's fine. 100 statuettes for a node, or 60 for the Elemental Sword skin seems like a lot, but now I know that I WILL be able to get them if I open enough chests. That's a big improvement.

Thoughts?The main question is whether it's a permanent addiction to the chests, or a seasonal one.

Permanent.

[Danikat.8537]

It's certainly a step in the right direction. But I have 2 concerns:

1) Is the statuette a permanent addition to the chests, or only going to be available until they're updated? That makes a big difference IMO. If it's permanent then great - it is one of the ways players have been asking Anet to make the chests fairer. If it's temporary then it's still better than nothing but it's not really a fix so much as a break. It's like the Black Lion Exclusives Chest - a way for some people to get some of the items they want without RNG.

2) If it's permanent is it going to be updated as new things are added to the chests? And if so how many of the new things will be included and how many will stay RNG? If the majority of new items aren't available this way then again, it's not really a solution.

[Orpheal.8263]

Do i understand thius right.playxers receive now with every chest they open guaranted such a statue, and these statues can be used - if you have enough of them naturally - to buy with them directly ANY BLC CONTENT you want that has basicalyl also a chance to get dropped from the BLC#s or were once part of the BLC, so that you can progress slowly but steadily with them to get what you want, so that people that never have had luck to get what they want, can get now basicalyl what they want with the help of the Statues, once we have enough of them?

If that correct, then I find this a great addition - a concept, that should get also implemented finally in form of BOSS TOKENS which get dropped guaranteed from bosses liek Tequatl, or the TRI WURM and any other enemies which can drop unique items qwith unique skins, so that you can slowly but surely get those items/skins, if you have killed them already countless times and have had no luck to get the drop that you want, like the tequatl weapon skin set, or the tri wurm armor skin stuff

Long overdue

[RoseofGilead.8907]

The article about today's Black Lion Statuette addition makes it sound like these are a permanent addition to the chests. They also say that the vendor will be updated with new items "periodically":

"Starting today, in addition to at least two random drops and a guaranteed seasonal item, every Black Lion Chest contains a Black Lion Statuette.

Clicking on a statuette will open a vendor window, where you can redeem the item for Black Lion Trading Company goods such as Total Makeover Kits, home instance gathering nodes, a selection of skins, and much more! We’ll update the vendor periodically with some new item choices. "

If that's actually the case, then I think this was a great (and long overdue) addition to the game. Thank you, Anet.

[kharmin.7683]

Still doesn't seem good enough to me that I would buy keys to open some (or all) of the 500 BLCs that I have in storage. Glad that others are finding it more satisfying than before, though.

[Dawdler.8521]

My instant reaction is ffs not another kitten item based currency.

[Deihnyx.6318]

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:The idea was admirable, but the costs are ridiculously outrageous. Adding insult to injury, these take up a guaranteed slot and the mini takes up a guaranteed slot, so you only get two rolls at something on the actual random loot table.

Not true, you can get up to 5 items now.

I opened my freebee. Statue takes a slot, mini takes a slot, only two slots for rolls on the loot table. Explain how you get five.You get five the same way you've been getting four for a while now.

You have a chance at getting an uncommon extra item. You had 2 slots from roll and one chance for uncommon.2 guaranteed + 2 rolls + 1 chance for extra uncommon roll

Actually, these are worse than I realized. Thank you for making me read the fine print.

Each chest offers a guaranteed black lion statue, a guaranteed mini jackal, two random commons and a (slim) chance at a single role on the loot table for items of greater rarity than common! This is horrible!

So let's see, the gold standard is Overwatch loot boxes. You get four full rolls at the full loot table and, yes, you can get very luck and end up with four rares or super rares from a single chest. On the loot table is random currency awards that let you buy any item from the loot table directly. In my experience, you can typically buy a rare of your choice for every ~ $30-$40 spent. On top of a fair loot table and the rewards you get from your actual rolls.

Then we have BLCs, that are probably among the least fair in any western game. They can do much better and make more money by being more fair and reasonable with their customers.

I'm still not sure how that's worse than before. You get the same system + 1 extra statuette. These statuettes will let you buy pretty much anything you want (except super rare, permanent contracts)/Not taking into account the number of rolls, it's pretty similar to Overwatch now (give the description you gave to it).

Before they were throwing at you useless bank express, merchant etc that are absolutely useless if you got the permanent contract. To this day I still have STACKS of bank expresses that I cant use, can't trade, can't even gift to friends. And only reason Im keeping them is in hope they let us trade a few stacks against a permanent someday.

Compared to that, I see the recent changes as improvement, I dont know how it compares to Overwatch though.

To be anything like Overwatch, we'd have four full rolls on the full loot table. And, average enough black lion statues to buy a rare of our choice for every ~25 BLCs we open.

Sorry never played this stupid game. Why should overwatch be an example for GW2?

The player base for online games has really been blowing up in recent months over the fairness of micro-transactions and random loot boxes in particular. Destiny 2 is flailing as a result of the backlash and Destiny 2's loot boxes aren't even as bad as GW2's. Overwatch as a game isn't going to be directly comparable to all other online games. It is, however, considered in general, to be one of the few games that does random loot boxes in a way that is fair to players. That's why their system has become a standard by which to judge other game's implementation of random loot boxes.

It's not just an issue for players looking for fairness, Overwatch (published by Blizzard), is increasingly looked to as a standard by other game companies because not only does it strike a good balance from a player perspective, but it has been extremely rewarding to the publisher, with higher micro-transaction participation rates among their players and higher average returns per player than the industry standard, by far.

That's why BLCs are so frustrating to me. I want Arenanet to be successful financially and they would do much better if they would implement a fair BLC system that would still tap their "whales", while greatly broadening player participation in their business model and increasing average revenue generated per player. The implementation of the black lion statue just shows that they refuse to learn. They will pay lip service to the fans, but they just always find a way to be so stingy that there is no real benefit to players or their bottom line. Every time they screw up, they then feel "obliged" to not fix it out of "fairness" to those who have already paid in to an unfair system.

Frustrating to watch.

Game dev industry doesn't care what you think about their gambling boxes as long as there are people paying for them. No amount of forum whining will change what anet does with BLCs. Or any company.

The faster you accept it's customers' fault these practices are being exploited in every game, the faster you will find balance.

i'd say that especially with this, you can show Anet that players appreciate this step towards more guaranteed acquisition of the item you want.Lootboxes aren't more evil than ecto gambling. There are players who like it, just like there are players who don't. Today's update is a step towards finding the correct balance, now the sales will tell if the average consumers agrees or not.

Vote with your wallet, as always :)

[GrubySzymek.1362]

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@"Kheldorn.5123" said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:

@Deihnyx.6318 said:

@Fiontar.4695 said:The idea was admirable, but the costs are ridiculously outrageous. Adding insult to injury, these take up a guaranteed slot and the mini takes up a guaranteed slot, so you only get two rolls at something on the actual random loot table.

Not true, you can get up to 5 items now.

I opened my freebee. Statue takes a slot, mini takes a slot, only two slots for rolls on the loot table. Explain how you get five.You get five the same way you've been getting four for a while now.

You have a chance at getting an uncommon extra item. You had 2 slots from roll and one chance for uncommon.2 guaranteed + 2 rolls + 1 chance for extra uncommon roll

Actually, these are worse than I realized. Thank you for making me read the fine print.

Each chest offers a guaranteed black lion statue, a guaranteed mini jackal, two random commons and a (slim) chance at a single role on the loot table for items of greater rarity than common! This is horrible!

So let's see, the gold standard is Overwatch loot boxes. You get four full rolls at the full loot table and, yes, you can get very luck and end up with four rares or super rares from a single chest. On the loot table is random currency awards that let you buy any item from the loot table directly. In my experience, you can typically buy a rare of your choice for every ~ $30-$40 spent. On top of a fair loot table and the rewards you get from your actual rolls.

Then we have BLCs, that are probably among the least fair in any western game. They can do much better and make more money by being more fair and reasonable with their customers.

I'm still not sure how that's worse than before. You get the same system + 1 extra statuette. These statuettes will let you buy pretty much anything you want (except super rare, permanent contracts)/Not taking into account the number of rolls, it's pretty similar to Overwatch now (give the description you gave to it).

Before they were throwing at you useless bank express, merchant etc that are absolutely useless if you got the permanent contract. To this day I still have STACKS of bank expresses that I cant use, can't trade, can't even gift to friends. And only reason Im keeping them is in hope they let us trade a few stacks against a permanent someday.

Compared to that, I see the recent changes as improvement, I dont know how it compares to Overwatch though.

To be anything like Overwatch, we'd have four full rolls on the full loot table. And, average enough black lion statues to buy a rare of our choice for every ~25 BLCs we open.

Sorry never played this stupid game. Why should overwatch be an example for GW2?

The player base for online games has really been blowing up in recent months over the fairness of micro-transactions and random loot boxes in particular. Destiny 2 is flailing as a result of the backlash and Destiny 2's loot boxes aren't even as bad as GW2's. Overwatch as a game isn't going to be directly comparable to all other online games. It is, however, considered in general, to be one of the few games that does random loot boxes in a way that is fair to players. That's why their system has become a standard by which to judge other game's implementation of random loot boxes.

It's not just an issue for players looking for fairness, Overwatch (published by Blizzard), is increasingly looked to as a standard by other game companies because not only does it strike a good balance from a player perspective, but it has been extremely rewarding to the publisher, with higher micro-transaction participation rates among their players and higher average returns per player than the industry standard, by far.

That's why BLCs are so frustrating to me. I want Arenanet to be successful financially and they would do much better if they would implement a fair BLC system that would still tap their "whales", while greatly broadening player participation in their business model and increasing average revenue generated per player. The implementation of the black lion statue just shows that they refuse to learn. They will pay lip service to the fans, but they just always find a way to be so stingy that there is no real benefit to players or their bottom line. Every time they screw up, they then feel "obliged" to not fix it out of "fairness" to those who have already paid in to an unfair system.

Frustrating to watch.

Game dev industry doesn't care what you think about their gambling boxes as long as there are people paying for them. No amount of forum whining will change what anet does with BLCs. Or any company.

The faster you accept it's customers' fault these practices are being exploited in every game, the faster you will find balance.

i'd say that especially with this, you can show Anet that players appreciate this step towards more guaranteed acquisition of the item you want.Lootboxes aren't more evil than ecto gambling. There are players who like it, just like there are players who don't. Today's update is a step towards finding the correct balance, now the sales will tell if the average consumers agrees or not.

Vote with your wallet, as always :)

Gambling in games that are not rated as adult are the result of law being stuck in 80s. They exploit customers because there are no regulations forbidding them to do so.

Voting with wallet is a lie created by market suppliers, especially in gaming industry. A minority of whales provides more money than enough to sustain the game, so even if anet loses few of us in the process they don't care as long as whales are there. You, me, we are irrelevant.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

Unless it stays a permanent guaranteed addition, I'm not interested personally.I'm already mega picky on opening chest when 95% of the stuff in them is stuff I would never want to be stuck with.

[Sojourner.4621]

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:Unless it stays a permanent guaranteed addition, I'm not interested personally.I'm already mega picky on opening chest when 95% of the stuff in them is stuff I would never want to be stuck with.

It's permanent. This is the new standard. The seasonal item is a jackal mini.

[Ayakaru.6583]

I feel really sad now I opened 20 chests this weekened with the 10K+2scr deal :(

[Cakemeister.5792]

I'm pretty happy, it's making the home nodes a lot more affordable.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Sojourner.4621 said:

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:Unless it stays a permanent guaranteed addition, I'm not interested personally.I'm already mega picky on opening chest when 95% of the stuff in them is stuff I would never want to be stuck with.

It's permanent. This is the new standard. The seasonal item is a jackal mini.

That's at least the best news I've seen out of this.Now I'll just wait for another chest update to spend my keys.

Haven't seen a chest I was interested in since the very beginning of halloween as all the latest ones has nothing I want except the clearly super rare stuff I might never get.

[kinjiro.3251]

@Cakemeister.5792 said:I'm pretty happy, it's making the home nodes a lot more affordable.

Sorry to say that this is untrue. 8400 gems to open 100 chests=2k plus gold in conversion. You can spend $105 on gems to buy keys or you can convert that to gold and buy multiple nodes on the bltc. statuettes did not make nodes cheaper by any means.