Black Lion keys worth buying?

[EpicName.4523]

Like...ever? Just saw there is a big discount on those keys, but from the past I remember they were just a huge gamble with little to no pay off. Have they become worth getting?

[Kreejaffa.3682]

If you just enjoy rolling the dice for fun and like your low chance of getting things that are worth money, yes, buy some keys. It helps support development, and while you are likely to get more in game gold converting the gems you bought into gold, it can be fun playing RNG for a chance at stuff.

[Edgy McEdgelord.4790]

No they have not.

[Dante.1763]

I think they are given that i use most of the stuff they drop, outside of teleport to friend stones ;-;

[Blude.6812]

It's still a gamble but I usually buy some when on sale. Now I am just holding on to them until the festival supply box is removed since that box is useless for me. Hopefully it's changed on Tues.

[ProverbsofHell.2307]

Imo they are absolutely worth it now with the addition of statuettes, which contain exclusive items.

[Lambent.6375]

If you want some of the exclusive black lion chest skins they are worth it. Just hold on to the keys until something you like pops up.

Right now they have the storm dagger/ scarab back and glider. Even if you don't get one you'll get statues that you can use later

If you dont care about that stuff, I wouldn't get them.

[Sylvari.2953]

@Lambent.6375 said:If you want some of the exclusive black lion chest skins they are worth it. Just hold on to the keys until something you like pops up.

^ This. I only ever buy Keys when I need an exclusive skin. But I'm pretty happy with it because so far I got everything I wanted.

[Danikat.8537]

If you're hoping to make gold then no, definitely not. Especially right now when if you're buying gems with gold the conversion rate is so high it negates the sale on keys, and you'll get more gold than usual by directly converting gems bought with real money.

If you want some of the items in the chest for yourself then it might be worth it, as long as you bear in mind there's no guarantee you will ever get the item you want and it becomes less likely the rarer it is. People have frequently spent large amounts of money on keys only to be left without the thing/s the wanted and with a lot of junk they have no use for instead.

Personally I won't ever buy keys. I don't gamble with real money and I have better things to do with my gold. I sometimes open chests with free keys but that's it. But as long as you know what you're getting into it's your choice whether you do or not.

[AliamRationem.5172]

I rarely buy keys and generally only when they are on sale. I purchased three lots of five keys this time around and, as usual, wasn't particularly thrilled with the outcome. I did get two weapon skins that I like, and enough ticket scraps to purchase another when the time is right. Otherwise it was a bunch of fairly useless garbage and a little bit of gold that didn't come close to the exchange value of the gems I spent.

Bottom line: Don't ever expect to come out ahead on black lion keys. You will almost always find that the value of the gems spent on keys is FAR more than what you receive in return. But it is fun to roll the dice and see what you get. Some of the items are difficult/impossible to get any other way and there's always a very (VERY) small chance that you'll get something really nice.

[Vayne.8563]

Depends on what you expect to get out of your chests. It's worth it for me, because I have virtually every single cheap skin unlocked and I can get guaranteed wardrobe unlocks from chests. I also have a lot of expendable income, never overdo it and I don't expect much return on it. It's more like a grab bag than anything else. It's like the days back when I used to buy packs of baseball cards. All the cards had some minor value but most people don't care about them. If you're trying to collect them all, and you can trade, or play with the ones you aren't interested in it's worth a bit.

I only buy black lion keys with cash, because I'm supporting the game that way. Obviously when they're on sale my return is better. But it's just a bit of fun for me, not done to "profit".

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@EpicName.4523 said:Like...ever? Just saw there is a big discount on those keys, but from the past I remember they were just a huge gamble with little to no pay off. Have they become worth getting?

Buy them for the excitement of anticipating what might drop.They are not now, never have been, nor will ever be a financially good deal, regardless of the discount. They exist to (a) help fund the game via gem sales by (b) providing a bit of fun from people who hope to get lucky.

[Ok I Did It.2854]

@Vayne.8563 said:Depends on what you expect to get out of your chests. It's worth it for me, because I have virtually every single cheap skin unlocked and I can get guaranteed wardrobe unlocks from chests.

This is one of the reasons I also do the chests, that 125 gems for the key can turn into a 800gem skin or 1000g + unlock.

But like others have said if you want to open them to try get that item worth a lot of gold, then absolutely do not do it, it is not worth it, there are enough of us that open the chests and post results for you to make up your mind, for what its worth, I have opened 1000+ chests and never gotten a very rare drop.

But if you want to do it for fun, or to collect the items that can only be gotten from it then sure go for it, if its for gold or riches stay far far far away.

[StinVec.3621]

I would strongly recommend looking at other threads on these forums (search box above) and maybe on Reddit also to see how poor chest results is extremely common. If you don't mind the near-guarantee to get nothing but worthless or lackluster results from the chests, go for it, but don't expect to get something decent (let alone something you actually desire). Buying keys is essentially throwing your money/gold in the garbage, but there is an extremely rare chance that something that isn't garbage will be thrown back at you.

! I only ever use keys I get extremely rarely via map completion or from a kill (which I think still happens). My results have only ever reinforced my view that they are not worth buying (I'd never spend real money to gamble, but these aren't worth it even with virtual money).!! However, I was weak and decided to buy 1 discounted key with some leftover gold-bought gems after getting a character slot and voucher yesterday - what I got was as bad as I expected and just reinforced my decision to never pay for them, but now not even with gold-bought gems at a discounted price.!! I got:! A Gnashblade Zephyrite Supply Box that is worthless as it gave me a Festival Token that can't be used because the Festival of the Four Winds is over, a junk trophy item worth a few silver and a single quartz crystal. Why is this item even given still? The Festival is over with, yet it says it is only available during the Festival. So glad I got a single token that isn't added to my wallet and now takes up a space in the bank or on a mule until next year(?) when I can use it, and even then I will also likely need a lot more of them to be able to buy anything. (Supply box is also affected by magic find and mine is maxed and I had MF food on top of that...doesn't really help much as you can see...)! Two T6 mat bags! * It also gave me 1 Statuette and then 3 Statuettes... Yeah, 2 roll slots to give me the same item. Why is it even possible to get multiples of the same thing in the same chest? At least Statuettes are better than Exotic Luck Essence, which I have seen someone get in all 3 roll slots a long time ago.!

[Rhyse.8179]

Don't buy them with RL cash - otherwise you're supporting the underhanded gambling mechanic. Also, you don't know what you are paying for, and may get garbage. I can't justify paying RL money on the unkown.

Go ahead and buy them with gold if you have some to burn. There are some goodies in there. What I do is buy a few when they are on sale, store em in the bank, and then use them all when there's a temporary promo item in the boxes that I want a shot at.

[crepuscular.9047]

worthiness really depends on the item rotations; the last one was filled with trash, this one is ok

but completely RNG, you could blow 400 keys like MightyTeapot and still dont get the Chak Egg Sac

one thing to keep in mind, the drop rate of items do not seem to be identical even if they are in the same rarity group.

[Hot Boy.7138]

I been playing this game since launch, black lion keys have always been a waste of money for me. It's complete rng and the odds are against you.

[Gemnaid.4219]

Lots of good stuff in them. Make sure you use real money so the gem rate drops again.

[GenghisKhan.7842]

I've never bought a BL key with gems because I've only gotten crap out of the free ones

[calb.3128]

When they're on a substantial discount and you have the discipline to save them until something you want appears, they can come in handy. Now my Ele is sat happy with his Storm Dagger skin, my remaining keys are waiting until the next refresh...

As someone said above, the inevitable disappointment has been mitigated with Statuettes, so even if you draw lots of duds you can at least get something you want. You just need to go into it with your eyes wide open and recognise BL Keys for what they are, not what you want them to be.

[Abazigal.3679]

I'd personnaly do a few 80 zones in order to get 2-3 bl keys, and check what i get from bl chests. If it seems satisfying, then i might do other 80 zones and buy a few keys. If not, then no way i would buy some on the trade post.

That being said, the drops lately are " better " than what they used to be. I can recall getting completly useless stuff years ago ( i.e one random tonic, one box and 1 blue miniature)

[OutOfOrder.3719]

If you are interested in the black lion chest exclusive items, elementalist sword, wild magic or gryphon backpack, then the keys are worth it.

As long as you are willing to save your black lion statutes, 60 for the exclusive items, then they are definitely worth it.

If you are really lucky, you can get the monthly exclusive items in 10 to 20 keys or less. (Storm dagger). But please keep in mind it is possible that 50-60 keys will be required to get that monthly exclusive item in the rotation. (There is no guarantee unfortunately)

Just hold on to the Statutes, but the wardobe unlocks for 15 statutes is a good buy too :)

[Tails.9372]

@EpicName.4523 said:Like...ever?Yes, but only for the Black Lion Statuettes because you need them if you want to get stuff like the Wild Magic Backpack.

[MauChann.3081]

When the keys are on sale I usually buy some of them, but because they are so easy to get in vanilla PVE, I don't really spend huge amounts of money to get an item I really want.

[Kruhljak.2705]

Common category items will comprise ~90% of your return, and the coveted super-rare items will be far into the noise. Base your subjective decision of worth on that.