WvW Mount Skins: why a pack?

[Randulf.7614]

@Loosmaster.8263 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Loosmaster.8263 said:I'm not that much interested either until they fix the scaling on the Norns. I don't like riding a Chihuahua not matter how it looks...

Haha yeah tell me about it. Mounts and Norn do not mix well

They did a good job with the Dreadnought. That is the one I use 99% of the time.

Yes, I agree with that actually. Was the reason I bought it too

[Turkeyspit.3965]

@"Randulf.7614" said:

You can dye 3 parts of the armour and the fur

@XenesisII.1540 said:

@"Randulf.7614" said:

They are some cool skins albeit 2 are a bit samey. I can this one being made into Battle Cat a lot though

Can you dye the skin green and armor orange to get a scuffed battlecat look?

Is it just me, or from that angle doesn't it look like you're riding a hyena?

[Hybarf Tics.2048]

People are fed up of packs, flush me. Anet please flush me, I'm not taking my wallet out for this!!!I know Anet is allergic to this comment but here goes, 1 mount 1 payment not 3 and certainly not 5. :p

[Randulf.7614]

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@"Randulf.7614" said:

You can dye 3 parts of the armour and the fur

@XenesisII.1540 said:

@"Randulf.7614" said:

They are some cool skins albeit 2 are a bit samey. I can this one being made into Battle Cat a lot though

Can you dye the skin green and armor orange to get a scuffed battlecat look?

Is it just me, or from that angle doesn't it look like you're riding a hyena?

Yeah. I'll replace it with a better one later

[Hybarf Tics.2048]

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@"Randulf.7614" said:

They are some cool skins albeit 2 are a bit samey. I can this one being made into Battle Cat a lot though

I only like that one. Bummer. Oh well, it's fine, no money from me then. ;)You got that right I would have bought the cat, Anet you're so greedyly lame. :s

[Skotlex.7580]

On the upside, the less people who buy these skins, the less cluttered it'll be in the game.

ANet probably knows very well the price point that brings them the most profit. And why not? These are just visual packs, nothing gamechanging.

If somebody really wants to stand out from the crowd, then I am fine with them spending luxuriously to do so.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

I didn’t buy the mount pack. I wasn’t thrilled by two of the mounts being almost identical. However the main deal breaker is that I’m a PvE player and not only does the mount have no real use in PvE, it’s not even as fast as the Raptor or Jackal.

[MithranArkanere.8957]

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@MithranArkanere.8957 said:Because what they want to encourage is people buying gems, not just exchanging gold for them.

The choices are saving gems slowly, or spending a bit of cash.

Er..the only way anyone can buy gems with gold is if another players buys gems with $$$ and sells them for gold. Both = $$$ in ANET's pocket. There are still gems available for gold, the price has jumped a bit, which also means people will get more gold for the $$$ they spend buying gems.

The issue is the amount of gems. I didn't pay 2000 gems for the Shrine Guardian Mount skin because even though it was awesome, it was 1 skin for the Jackal which I hardly use. Now they ask 2000 gems for 6 skins for 1 mount that, comparatively speaking, I hardly use. Still a flat 'no' for me.

It's not completely like that. While the conversion rate is affected by supply and demand, it isn't a direct stock like the trading post. There won't be a point in which there's no gold to trade if no one buys gems.

It also prevents people fiddling with the system and depleting stocks by buying or selling too much.

[b k.1648]

I was expecting 2000 gems for the Outrider skin anyway, so I'm more than happy to get another four skins as well for that price. I'll probably just use the one though.

[hugo.4705]

@Strider Pj.2193 said:

@"Naxos.2503" said:To be honest, I was a bit sad to see how quickly it seemed like that they jumped to monetize this. I mean, sure, everyone saw it coming, but still, darn. Could have spared our feelings a bit there Anet, I'd not have raised a concern if it had been another Week or so from now, but in this particular case, I really feel like we're getting milked, as "justified" as you may be for trying to recoup your losses, that's hardly the customer's fault.

It is -NOT- a pleasant feeling. Loss of respect from me on that point.

Why are you shocked? Not knocking Anet here, but you were in the WvW forums where people were stating it was simply to monetize the mount. (Via skins)

@"Ashen.2907" said:When the question, "why do they...?" is asked, the answer is almost always, "money."

Exactly. (Which we get to ‘vote’ on by buying them or not buying them. Which is better than the ‘vote’ to include them in WvW.)

Monetize away.

@hugo.4705 said:Very disapointed.... wasn't very fan of the kitty but the fact that is a pack totally erase my envy to buy it some skin. I'm only interested by the outrider one (even if I kinda force myself) nah will let that thing pass, don't want to spend some hardly accumulated gems into something I don't have any use for. Nice try.

As ‘not a fan of the kitty’ I hope you mean the skin, as you’ve been a staunch supporter of the mount being added.

Yeah the skin of course, should have put another word. The base skin is okay ^^ but since half of the pack skins are just the same with additional dye channels / recolor mwelp. I like the mount but I wouldn't say I supported its introduction in WvW. But I do appreciate the animation, and the outrider skin. Edited the comment.

[Burnfall.9573]

@Endless Soul.5178 said:I think I'll just stick with the default skin for now. It looks great anyways.

[Loosmaster.8263]

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I didn’t buy the mount pack. I wasn’t thrilled by two of the mounts being almost identical. However the main deal breaker is that I’m a PvE player and not only does the mount have no real use in PvE, it’s not even as fast as the Raptor or Jackal.

Can I steal your sig? I wanted to tag you so many times in the WvW forum for it, lol.

[HazyDaisy.4107]

I like that there are 5 skins, wvw doesn't see much variety in builds, but dangit it can have variety in mount skins and colors! I am wondering about the wvw guilds that all dress the same though :), are we going to see g kicks because someone dyed their mount electro green?

[HazyDaisy.4107]

@"Ben K.6238" said:I was expecting 2000 gems for the Outrider skin anyway, so I'm more than happy to get another four skins as well for that price. I'll probably just use the one though.

Big SWEETIE!

[IndigoSundown.5419]

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@"Ashen.2907" said:When the question, "why do they...?" is asked, the answer is almost always, "money."

How is that a smart way to make money? People will rather

not

buy now than waste Gems on skins they consider ugly.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a smart way to make money, ANet just has to think they'll get more money this way. Since they have more sales data than we do, they could even be right despite player beliefs to the contrary. When the first mount skins hit (1 for 2k, randoms for 400), ANet said that individual low-priced skins don't produce revenue the way that big ticket single items or bundles do. This even makes sense in a way, as cosmetics are going to be hit or miss for people. Price a skin at 400 and you need to sell 5 to make up for every player who would have been willing to pay 2K. If there are not enough who'd be willing to pay 400, then the opportunity cost would be too high.

[Hybarf Tics.2048]

OP your question is all wrong, mine would be, why 4 identical re-skinned job and only one truly original? Total unimaginative rip-off. :o

[Ashen.2907]

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Astralporing.1957 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said::'( I was hoping for seperate skins, as I am only interested in one. Why did ANet decide to make it a pack?Exactly because of that. They want people to also buy the skins they aren't interested in.

Yes, obviously. My question was

why

? I'd rather spend around 1,000 Gems on

one

skin that I like than 2,000 on all five (that mostly look awful to me).

@Endless Soul.5178 said:I think I'll just stick with the default skin for now. It looks great anyways.

Ditto.

@"Ashen.2907" said:When the question, "why do they...?" is asked, the answer is almost always, "money."

How is that a smart way to make money? People will rather

not

buy now than waste Gems on skins they consider ugly.

And yet the only people with access to sales data trends have decided to bundle the skins.

Bundling highly desirable items with those that are less so is a proven, across multiple industries, way of increasing revenue. The skin that you like is someone else's ugly, and your ugly skin is someone else's desirable. Bundling this way targets both you and that someone else.

[Erasculio.2914]

@Ashantara.8731 said:How is that a smart way to make money? People will rather not buy now than waste Gems on skins they consider ugly.

Keep in mind that most of ArenaNet's strategy with the mount skins consist on hoping people will buy stuff they may not want:

• The full mount packs: people could only buy those skins for the five mounts together. Even if someone did not want the Springer or the Skimmer skins, sorry - it was all or nothing.

• The random licenses: if you only wanted one skin, ArenaNet was encouraging you to keep buying the random skins until you got the one you wanted.

So it's not surprising that they expect the same to happen now - that people would be willing to buy stuff they don't want in order to also get the skin they want.

[Hybarf Tics.2048]

@"Ben K.6238" said:I was expecting 2000 gems for the Outrider skin anyway, so I'm more than happy to get another four skins as well for that price. I'll probably just use the one though.

That being said those 4 skin jobs Anet pulled on you are identical in every way, they simply came out the paint shop $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ differently $$$$$$$$$. :o

[Hesione.9412]

I had some gems, converted some gold to gems, and bought the pack. I wvw numerous hours a week, though, so it's worth it to me being able to see the mount the way I want.

I don't consider items in the Gem Store to be rip-offs. Lots are cosmetic (skins) and some have utility (permanent gathering tools, bank/character/material slots). But you can happily play the game having purchased absolutely nothing from the Gem Store.

It's not like the Gem Store prices are hidden, or the gold-to-gems conversion rate is hidden.

The definition of rip-off being used here seems to be "I don't want to pay this price for this item." Given that the item is not being misadvertised, nothing in the Gem Store meets the definition of an actual rip-off.

[Leo G.4501]

At the end of the day, despite how disappointed you are, you'll find some way to get the gems for them. You wouldn't have bothered to get the mount if you weren't.

[Leo G.4501]

@MithranArkanere.8957 said:

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:

@MithranArkanere.8957 said:Because what they want to encourage is people buying gems, not just exchanging gold for them.

The choices are saving gems slowly, or spending a bit of cash.

Er..the only way anyone can buy gems with gold is if another players buys gems with $$$ and sells them for gold. Both = $$$ in ANET's pocket. There are still gems available for gold, the price has jumped a bit, which also means people will get more gold for the $$$ they spend buying gems.

The issue is the amount of gems. I didn't pay 2000 gems for the Shrine Guardian Mount skin because even though it was awesome, it was 1 skin for the Jackal which I hardly use. Now they ask 2000 gems for 6 skins for 1 mount that, comparatively speaking, I hardly use. Still a flat 'no' for me.

It's not completely like that. While the conversion rate is affected by supply and demand, it isn't a direct stock like the trading post. There won't be a point in which there's no gold to trade if no one buys gems.

It also prevents people fiddling with the system and depleting stocks by buying or selling too much.

As far as supply goes, the reason that it practically is a straight conversion is because there are people that want that gold. Consider that, near the game's launch, there were players stockpiling hundreds of gems at the cost of a pittance of gold (like 4 gold for 100 gems). A couple years after launch, there were players probably five-digit gems just sitting there collecting dust because they hit the cap in gold and needed something that held value.

There won't be a point where there's no gold because the game infinitely generates gold. When you see the conversion rate to gems becoming 15 gold for 100 gems, there might be a shortage but that just won't ever happen lol. It's a good thing though. It's a direct attack against gold-sellers while also allowing a sink for gold to help counter inflation.

[Leo G.4501]

@"Hesione.9412" said:I had some gems, converted some gold to gems, and bought the pack. I wvw numerous hours a week, though, so it's worth it to me being able to see the mount the way I want.

I don't consider items in the Gem Store to be rip-offs. Lots are cosmetic (skins) and some have utility (permanent gathering tools, bank/character/material slots). But you can happily play the game having purchased absolutely nothing from the Gem Store.

It's not like the Gem Store prices are hidden, or the gold-to-gems conversion rate is hidden.

The definition of rip-off being used here seems to be "I don't want to pay this price for this item." Given that the item is not being misadvertised, nothing in the Gem Store meets the definition of an actual rip-off.

Spot on!

I like the way you think. Next, people will say it's predatory in some nature. 's cool. We understand that this is the player's way of saying "I want it! But I want to haggle for it!" Just wait a few months or a year. There will be a sale and you'll be rewarded for your haggling skills.

[Leo G.4501]

@Hybarf Tics.2048 said:

@"Ben K.6238" said:I was expecting 2000 gems for the Outrider skin anyway, so I'm more than happy to get another four skins as well for that price. I'll probably just use the one though.

That being said those 4 skin jobs Anet pulled on you are identical in every way, they simply came out the paint shop $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ differently $$$$$$$$$. :o

U just mad you fell outta the fashion-wars meta.

[Wraith.9204]

This was an easy buy for me. There is enough variety that I won't buy anymore skins for my Warclaw unless there is something I really, really, like. And the Vanguard skin matches my character that wears the Lunatic Templar Armor. I'll use the skins enough in WvW that it is worth it.