What's your thoughts on "Very Good/Interesting Skins" being sold in the Gem Store?

[Knighthonor.4061]

I wonder where people stand on this. I like Legendary skins they are cool and all. I have one. They take a long time to make [content moderated].

Then we have some of the Gem Store skins, they usually aren't as flashy visually but sometimes have very unique designs that stand out. Black Lion Skins tend to be in the middle here.

How would you all feel if the Gem Store had skins for sale that were more flashy and interesting sort of like Legendary level creativity but without being legendary themselves. So no animation changes and foot prints and stuff like that.

Would the community be cool with that? I personally buy gem store skins when there is something that really stand out, usually these are Outfits, Backs, Gliders, Mounts, NoveltyBut I would love to buy more skins for weapons if they were more exciting than what currently given.

[Tukaram.8256]

I would not care of they sold them - but I am certainly not the target demographic. I am not paying real money for a skin. I don't really care that much about what the avatar looks like. I just use what the game drops, and will use a transmutation charge to vary the look. If the gem store helps keep the game running, I am in favor of it! :)

[Ototo.3214]

We already get some skins like that though, Marjory's dagger is one that comes to mind immediately.

[Blocki.4931]

I don't care what is sold over the gemstore as long as it's not some form of numerical advantage, as long as we continue to get new weapons and armors to earn ingame as well they can do whatever they want. I'll pay if I like it, I'll keep my money if I don't.

[Khisanth.2948]

You can spend a pile of gold and make legendary

You can spend a pile of gold by converting into gems and buy a gemstore skin

Actual difference is all in your head.

[Linken.6345]

Well we do have the blacklion sets that get added to gemstore so how is this diffrent?You want a none rng way of getting them?Wont this be like 2k gems for 1 skin similar to the mount fits then?

[Danikat.8537]

As long as it's not the only source of good skins I don't mind either way. I'm not against buying gem store skins but I very rarely do because I can generally find something as good or better in-game. I'm happy for Anet to keep trying to tempt me to get them, but I wouldn't want it to be the only option.

For example I really like Caithe's Crystal Bloom sword and it would be perfect for my main character, except I think it would be a bit weird for her to have Caithe's sword while Caithe is still using it (although I could always say Caithe/Aurene made me one too) and I'd just gotten the Scion's Claw which I also love and which seems more appropriate for the Commander.

[anninke.7469]

I wouldn't mind at all, but I'd prefer more simple skins available in Gem Store as those are what I miss the most.

[Luthan.5236]

Personally I don't care about most of the expensive or legendary stuff. Haven't checked all of them though. The gem store stuff usually looks boring for me. I like it less fancy and prefer if the char looked at least a little bit as if he could fit in the world. Feels weird to have every single player char looking like some super god with glitter and glamour and special effects everywhere aroudn the armor and weapon.

Mainly doing the stuff without gems for achievements/unlocks ... and maybe every now and then trying a personal mix of different skin pieces that I could like. Some weapons are nice but mainly the armor I prefer less fancy. I want to still see my char - his face and hairs and so on (having helmet disabled) ... not having the focus on the armour and effects.

[Ashantara.8731]

@Knighthonor.4061 said:I wonder where people stand on this. I like Legendary skins they are cool and all. I have one. They take a long time to make [content moderated].

Then we have some of the Gem Store skins, they usually aren't as flashy visually but sometimes have very unique designs that stand out. Black Lion Skins tend to be in the middle here.

Most Legendaries are super ugly, I tend to reskin them. Only a few are beautiful in design.

As for Gem Store skins, I wish more of those could be obtained through gameplay. Not because of the cost but because it doesn't feel rewarding to buy something with Gems, while going through difficult content to be rewarded with something is much more fun.

[kharmin.7683]

Would such a thing devalue legendaries and/or the effort to require them?

[Knighthonor.4061]

@kharmin.7683 said:Would such a thing devalue legendaries and/or the effort to require them?

Well skins are skins. Legendary are more than just that as they can freely change stats

[Josiah.2967]

I would rather support the game buying gems.

[joneirikb.7506]

I'm the wrong target audience obviously, I don't think they've released almost anything I've liked since the first year, and I do mean everything, skins from expansions, ls, gemstore, you name it.

Yeah, I'm still wandering around in 95% skins from 2012. (Edit: and not a single legendary yet, don't like any of them. They all look like power-rangers toy weapons)

[Knighthonor.4061]

@joneirikb.7506 said:I'm the wrong target audience obviously, I don't think they've released almost anything I've liked since the first year, and I do mean everything, skins from expansions, ls, gemstore, you name it.

Yeah, I'm still wandering around in 95% skins from 2012. (Edit: and not a single legendary yet, don't like any of them. They all look like power-rangers toy weapons)

What class you play most? Just curious

[joneirikb.7506]

@Knighthonor.4061 said:

@joneirikb.7506 said:I'm the wrong target audience obviously, I don't think they've released almost anything I've liked since the first year, and I do mean everything, skins from expansions, ls, gemstore, you name it.

Yeah, I'm still wandering around in 95% skins from 2012. (Edit: and not a single legendary yet, don't like any of them. They all look like power-rangers toy weapons)

What class you play most? Just curious

Guard

Edit: I've played most classes back and forth during the years, used to play most Guardian, Thief, Elementalist in that order, so been through all the weight classes, and dabbled at just about anything else. Still the same :) Yeah, I'm just not the target audience for the shiny sparkles stuff and other power-rangers looking toy weapons.

[aven.1537]

i play this game off and on. if they went and time gated skins per say. waited 6-12 months after letting a skin be crafted/be droped in game. after that they let it be bought in the gem store i see no wrong with that. say the original legends, if u could go in now after what 3-4 years and buy that skin for 20$. gw has always been pretty wars:P

[witcher.3197]

It's a weird choice to make the game be all about cosmetics as endgame content rewards, and then sell 99% of the cool ones in the store. I mean I get why they do this, it's good money, but I wish there was some balance to it.

This creates a strange situation where Anet doesn't want to reward players for doing content, letalone hard content. Seriously when was the last time ANYONE here was excited to get loot? Loot in this game is just something you sell on the TP so you can convert gold to gems. Nothing exciting about it.

You can actually see how the gemstore cannibalized ingame rewards as the years went on:

1. At launch every dungeon had its own armor set (all 3 weights) and weapon set.
2. Then they came up with the idea of fractals so that they could keep adding dungeons without the obligation of attaching rewards to them. Even when the Molten Facility first came out as a standalone dungeon, the weapons were put into the gemstore. At least there were still a few cool drops albeit with insanely low drop rates.
3. At some point Anet stopped making armors and started selling outfits because those were easier to produce for the store. Check the ratio of ingame vs gemstore outfits to see where the game is going.
4. HoT: the only gliders that aren't gemstore ones are legendaries, but at least they exist.
5. And finally we have PoF: every single mount skin is a gemstore skin.

The game is not rewarding, straight up. Cosmetics were supposed to be the endgame. But they've been phased out so there is no endgame other than buying stuff from the gemstore, which leads to content being beyond shallow.

I wish that they had at least 1 category of items that aren't available in the store at all. Like in GW1, Anet never sold weapons on the store. GW2 already had the legendary system going so they really should've just kept weapons as purely ingame rewards that came from various sources. That way weapons could be allowed to have prestige and Anet could make content rewarding through them. That's pretty much what Blizzard did with Artifact weapons in Legion and they kept the entire community busy (both hardcore and casual) throughout the entire expansion by locking various cool skins behind a wide variety of content.

[MithranArkanere.8957]

Since they pay the bills, the only thing that I find annoying is when they are not available.

Rather than removing the ability to purchase them altogether, there would be an alternate way of getting them when they are not in the gemstore.

For example, clicking the icon of the skin in the Bank's or Hero panel wardrobes and paying gems directly.You would not be able to gift the skin while it's not in the gemstore, and the price would be higher than when they are in the gemstore, but they would always be available. Allowing players to get the look they want without having to wait for the skin to go back to the gemstore, at the cost of paying a few more gems.

[AlexxxDelta.1806]

There are already plenty of gem store skins that are just as flashy as legendaries, if not more. When it comes to flashiness, I would take Timekeeper over legendary armor anytime, and it's just one of many. Even when it comes to weapons, there are quite a few BL skins that look flashier than some legendaries.

I know it's a preposterous notion, but if they are to increase their skin production, how about adding more of them in the actual... game?

[Ultramex.1506]

Wish we can earn more holiday-themed outfit by just playing, Hexed Outfit is the only outfit i know of that can only be earned by playing. I guess doing so will dent Anet profit

[Aoi.8570]

Generally it would be nice to have more 'flashy' weapon skins, especially for pistols, because even the legendary one (i'm talking about Quip) are just boring... The latest legendary one H.O.P.E. is much better, but imo it doesn't fit Thief at all, and this class is left without any cool skin now.

[Westenev.5289]

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Lion_standalone_weaponshttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Storm_Bow

I'll just leave this here for you fine folk to look at. I believe Anet have already been doing this for years. Several of these weapons (especially the storm bow) are legendary quality, just without the aura, draw effect or footfalls (IMO), while the rest are at least on paar with precursors.

[Bast.7253]

Seeing as the gemstore funds content development, I'm actually disappointed there aren't more interesting items or bulks of items with a higher cost. I'm not saying funnel all development into the gemstore, but it seems like the gemstore team is very small as they only manage to release a unique mount skin/outfit like monthly at the most. And I really don't see the point in chairs and gliders. You may see one person every now and then with a gemstore chair, but if you think about all the work that went into making them it feels like a lot of wasted effort for how little interest there is in them. Gliders, sure, but chairs. The inquest glider/chair is amazing, but I and a lot of other people just can't see the point in spending money on a virtual chair.... no matter how cool it is. That's not even counting how cumbersome and rather unintuitive the current novely item setup is. They really need to add somekind of hotkey for a radial menu for novelties and mounts, to select which one you want to use at the very least even if they don't make the novelty selection on the hero panel anymore friendly.

ANYway, to get back to the original point. There are so many things, at least in my opinion, that I think they could start targeting to make more money. More mount skins, more UNIQUE mount skins that aren't just slight pattern changes and color variations crowding up a little gamble box with actually unique skins that just feels like a dirty way of forcing consumers to spend money they don't want to spend to get what they want. Just sell them directly or make the combo packs more than base model with 4 dye channels and a stripe in a different location.

I do miss armor packs versus outfits because of the potential to mix and match, but I can understand the strain on development with a small team and the fitting that has to go into them. But even outfits aren't released that frequently, and aside from a few that are rather lackluster they're usually pretty decent even if many of them kind of share the same theme.

I think they could sell combat tonics pretty well on the gemstore, and they could certainly sell infusions. It's just that with infusions they wouldn't have any incentive for players to do these community events or gamble during festivals or do meta events. Not doing an infusion with a 0.000000000002% drop rate means they have to create some other carrot, and that would probably wind up being somekind of other cosmetic-oriented item like a weapon skin. Which would probably take significantly more work than some particle effects or a new texture and is why they're so liberal with adding them. It's great that they do, but the drop rate is so low on them usually that you're better off straight up farming some old material that you don't enjoy than wasting time participating in community events that are only fun for a few runs and only last a week or two. The meta rush I feel was done well though, because it at least came with an update to the metas to add Amalgamated Gemstones.

They could have done something similar with these boss rush events, so that the carrot wasn't a generic champ bag with a few silver worth of mats and a dismally small chance of an infusion.

They could add more home node items, they could add decoration bundles for guild halls, even if it's just existing assets made into decorations. They may not see that many buyers, but how much work would have to go into making them decorations? Would it really be that strenuous if they already have collision? Especially if they don't need recipes. With this comes the idea of player housing, but that's another rabbit hole not fit for this thread.

I think they could do more with the gemstore than they are doing, but everything they do from what they release and how few items they release in the gemstore, to how they structure rewards for festivals, these community events, mount packs, and outfits versus armor packs, it's all done very strategically to keep things as minimal as possible. It's all about efficiency because they seem to be extremely strapped for resources in all areas of the game, and it's felt like that's been increasingly more prevalent since right before POF. I understand, because with this business model they have to be tight with resources, but it honestly feels like it's been bare minimum on a lot of these fronts for so long that it really doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they shifted so much focus to other projects during a lot of this time.

In terms of the aesthetics of items on the gemstore, if it makes enough money to fund content development, then start pumping them out. The problem is when they start pumping them out and it feels like those funds are being diverted to projects that you aren't supporting, which is what peeved me to learn about those canceled projects. People will always complain that the gemstore has more content than the game most of the time, and while it's technically true, I don't think it's anywhere near as much as it COULD be, or maybe even SHOULD be... and what items they do release I feel are often not worth the very small percentage of interest they receive.

Stop making unique gathering tools that a select few will make, or if you do sell them as a bundle instead of one gathering tool weekly while people wait on a complete set.Stop making boring skins clutter up a mount pack or somekind of license that people HAVE to get just to get the skin they actually want, it feels unnecessarily manipulative and counter-productive to me. (Obviously this is all subjective, but I'm certainly not the only one that feels this way about some of the skins in these packs.)Stop making chairs that a fraction of the playerbase actually cares enough about to spend their real cash on, that obviously took a lot of work and effort.. and while well done.. could have been spent on something that a larger portion of players would want like outfits, weapons, or mount skins.

Put that effort into making things that are PRACTICAL and pretty, even if it's something like the garden plots in the home instance... that I mistakenly bought not realizing how tedious they would be and produce things that can't even be deposited into the material storage...…………… But it still has more use than a chair and is better than waiting an entire month to get a complete set of themed gathering tools.

I'm obviously just a consumer and not a game dev, and it's all just my opinion, but I think there are a lot of rather strange, uninspired, and frankly poor decisions made across the board. Whether it be gemstore content or game content and communication or event design that makes me feel like there isn't a lot of thought put into it outside of having something to post in the news section on the main page or create the illusion of development. Perhaps there's much larger stuff behind the scenes but with that lack of communication and these design decisions it leaves a lot of room for speculation, especially coupled with the increasing influx of these grindy or gambling-centric approaches.

Lastly, I'm obviously going based off of my observation alone, but I assume they have some kind of analytics person that reviews gemstore sales to see what's most profitable? Perhaps the items are designed solely based on how fun they are to create and not necessarily consumer or sales focused? Maybe there's just a ton of people floating around on Inquest chairs or using expensive gathering tools that I'm just not seeing during the time that I play and these items? Or maybe it's just that creating items like these are much easier/more efficient than creating something that might sell better like outfits/mount skins? Is creating a bunch of these items and populating the gemstore with them a better approach than not putting that effort into something that might take a little more time but sell better? Are they afraid to put more outfits on the gemstore because they don't want people to complain about the gemstore getting all of these new items while in-game rewards for community events and even a majority of meta events continue to be Random Champion Bag #23 with what essentially just winds up being crafting materials? Then unique skins being reserved as a big shiny feature of a new episode release?

I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting older and just not as enamored with the game as I used to be, but I feel like on a lot of fronts it just isn't really getting the focus it deserves or somewhere there's some decisions being made that may not be in the best interest of the game, and has nothing specifically to do with whether some outfit on the gemstore is as shiny as "legendary armor" that only gets one unique skin set for raiding that only a fraction of the playerbase sees anyway. So yes, I think, whether they're welfare legendaries or not, if I spend a fortune on legendary armor, if we're comparing it to gemstore outfits, that legendary armor should have a unique skin. But that's probably my only reasoning against shiny items on the gemstore. Because, while some people may farm for hours and hours for that same armor and obtain it in game, I don't think I've ever made a legendary without buying GEMS and converting to gold. It's the only sane thing to do and thus basically Gemstore armor.

Despite the rant above, I can tell when they have obviously listened to player feedback, and it's appreciated though it may not seem like it. It just might be nice to have more insight occasionally on certain decisions and why they don't make it in, if they're being considered or some of the complications that might arise from trying to implement them, or just general communication. We get great communication from the balance team and WvW though pretty regularly, so kudos to them for being so forthcoming. Perhaps the other teams are just drowning in too much work to have the same presence. Or perhaps they just don't like feeling micromanaged by consumers. I mean, I get it, I wouldn't want to either, I just hope that they're still passionate about what they do and the life they bring to the game during releases.

I apologize for the long post, and most likely nobody will read it. But as usual, I got carried away!

Really though, I am curious about some of these gemstore decisions. It's not even a long-winded rant about forced gambling with mount packs, I mean it partially is, but why? Is that really more profitable than just outright selling individual skins? And I assume the trading post only holds a certain number of items/collections/etc at a time?

Is there not a way to have a larger selection of items, even older items, ALWAYS available, accessed via the account page even if they aren't available directly in game? I probably would have bought the warclaw mount pack at some point during one of the WvW event weekends, but with a limited time to purchase them and more chaotic than usual income I haven't been able to get them. And feeling rushed to get them when they are available just seems odd. You'd think of all things, mount skins would take a bit more priority in general over some of the other items. Is it less a database issue and more a UI issue with the in-game trading post?

Okay, I'm really done this time. Sorry!

[Tukaram.8256]

@joneirikb.7506 said:I'm the wrong target audience obviously, I don't think they've released almost anything I've liked since the first year, and I do mean everything, skins from expansions, ls, gemstore, you name it.

Yeah, I'm still wandering around in 95% skins from 2012. (Edit: and not a single legendary yet, don't like any of them. They all look like power-rangers toy weapons)

I am the same way, not the target demographic. I don't buy skins, but have no problem with them selling them. I think the last outfit I bought was in GW1.

Really anything that can be bought for in game gold, can be bought for money (gem/gold exchange). I would not do it... but do not care if others do. Time is money - either invest some time, or money, and get what you want. I don't care what the avatar looks like very much, so will not invest the time or money in skins, or outfits.