Fashion wars is becoming unblanced.

[Trise.2865]

Gems can be bought with Gold. Therefore anything that can be bought with Gems are in-game content. The point is moot.

[Super Hayes.6890]

@Trise.2865 said:Gems can be bought with Gold. Therefore anything that can be bought with Gems are in-game content. The point is moot.

This. We can all choose our content, farming not required, and convert gold we earn if we so choose. It's not like anything in the gem store is needed to play.

[DiogoAfonso.2136]

I don't know if anyone here played GW1, but in GW2 amazing skins and outfits and minipets just look like a banality. You can agree or disagree, but the fact is that a LOT of gamers like to grind and work towards the feeling of achieving something that the majority can't achieve and feel that their work in game meant something. Work, or drop luck. GW2 can't even be considerable a Fashion Wars anymore. There's no War in this fashion world. It requires 0 effort and 0 war to look fashionable.

A player likes to play, to achieve things, to feel that is hours in the game resulted in something. If gemstore had 0 fashion content and only utility like upgrade extractor, revive orb, etc, and things were only dropable, i guarantee you, a lot more people would be farming in maps and being competitive about getting minipet X, or drop Z or unlocking the achievement W with a badass backpack. Why? Because the cool content would feel special.

Now you can't even walk in Lions Arch and appreciate skin X or Y and say "hey man, congratz nice outfit". Because ye, it looks nice. Bue does it feel special? It's just another fashionable good piece like all others have for some €.

I understand that the game has to find is way to be sustainable and Fashion content generates cash. But let's be real. This game fighting system and mounts are better than any other in the market competition, maps and visual details are also very good. People enjoy the universe and the story. So why does a game with millions of people that tried it, gets to a situation where probably 90% of the people that tried the game, doesn't even play it anymore.

My answer is simple. Yes, we are better in a lot of things. Almost all. But the game feels quite boring and with repeatable or ugly rewards lots of the time. Why? Because almost every cool fashionable content is on Gemstore and is not dropable anywhere.Yes, we can farm gold and convert to gems and just buy it. But again, it doesn't feel special. Because anyone can just put 20€ and have the same thing and anyone in the world can have easy access to the same outfit or skin. And when anyone can easily have that kind of cool content via gemstore, luxury items don't feel like luxury anymore. They just feel regular. They're the average of the game because it's just too easy to get them. And the players that wouldn't mind to actually PLAY the game and fill maps, dungeons, etc, to get those kind of cool things, just left to other games were they feel rewarded, with the hours they invest or with the luck they may get in drops without even playing that much.

And you cannot put so much different currencies into a game and just put things on map merchants and say "this is the game where you don't need luck to have the things you want". yes, we farm currency doing repeatable things that once more in the majority of the situations have a clear lack of super rare and rare cool drops. Why? Because either they are on NPC merchants when would be much more fun if they're dropable also, or on gemstore.

So, what happens to do game? Instead of people farming Dungeon X to obtain Minipet drop Z or Outfit W, you see 90% of the world map without no one and almost everyone doing the same Meta events everyday because everyone follows the path that grant us the best profit. While if you really had dropable cool content, people would follow the events that drop things they like.

If this game had a monthly subscription since Launch (if it was launched properly with raids and fractals since beginning), and 0 fashionable content via gemstore (or very limited in special dates), I guarantee you, there would be so much more people just playing the game... that would be the real Fashion Wars and we know how people enjoy to look cool and upgrade their style.

TL;DR - Gemstore fashion items killed the true Fashion Wars that would keep maps and content much more alive. The medicine to cure this game, the method of making money via gemstore fashionable items, made a lot of players just leave the game because almost no skin, outfit or glider in this game feels special. Yes, they look nice. But they don't feel special because they're just everywhere.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

I guess Armor doesn't count, because there's very little Armor in the Gem Store.

[DiogoAfonso.2136]

Is it really Fashion Wars? Why it isn't and how ANet "medicine" to profit from the game via gemstore can end up killing it. PLUS Note on the end with Solutions that could generate money like a real online store and the easy viral internet potential of using Baby Aurene (like Baby Yoda). - (yes i know GW2 already has a merchandise store with real products. But a few know that and if they put that merchandising advertised in game in the place of Gemstore, a LOT more players would buy real products)

Pre-note: I loved and still love GW1 and I love GW2

I'm just frustrated with the banality that gemstore fashion content brings to the game where no item really feels special, even if they look cute, because they're just everywhere, so fashion top items are just average. And even the super rare ones from drops and not gemstore, or achievements, don't feel special because everyone has a badass outfit or glider or minipet nowadays. There's 0 work on that, on a thing that people back in the days and in this genre of game would work to make gold or to hope for a drop to just buy it and feel good about having it. A game needs to have his addiction side to keep maps populated and make active community grow and to prevent dead content, and farming and collecting nice things would be a really cool way of exploring that because at the end people would feel that the work was worth it. Yes, they could complain about the drops being super rare, or rare, or about the grind u need to have gold to buy it in Trading Post... but hey. Only one wins the lottery but millions of people buy the ticket to try it. And in events would be the same if cool exclusive things like miniatures or gliders or outfits were on Dungeon X or Map Z as dropable. People would go there and play the game and keep repeating events until they have what they wanted to make them feel that they have something that is rare and people can notice.

People that complain about having to play the game to get nice items, are the reason why dungeons and fractals and raids are dead. Yes, we can find a party in LFG during our daytime. Is this anything to be proud of for a game with the potential and dimension that Guild Wars saga had? Seriously, a game really well populated has a lot of players any hour and it's possible to do any content and meta event at any hour of the day. Even if without gemstore some people don't have the time to farm all the fashion things they have from gemstore easily, if they really like the game, they will still play it and do the REAL content of the game on their free time. And probably a LOT of people that quited the game and would be REAL active ingame DOING things, would play and work their way to get nice things that would finally feel special.

I don't know if anyone here played GW1, but in GW2 amazing skins and outfits and minipets just look like a banality. You can agree or disagree, but the fact is that a LOT of gamers like to grind and work towards the feeling of achieving something that the majority can't achieve and feel that their work in game meant something. Work, or drop luck. GW2 can't even be considerable a Fashion Wars anymore. There's no War in this fashion world. It requires 0 effort and 0 war to look fashionable.

A player likes to play, to achieve things, to feel that is hours in the game resulted in something. If gemstore had 0 fashion content and only utility like upgrade extractor, revive orb, etc, and things were only dropable, i guarantee you, a lot more people would be farming in maps and being competitive about getting minipet X, or drop Z or unlocking the achievement W with a badass backpack. Why? Because the cool content would feel special.

Now you can't even walk in Lions Arch and appreciate skin X or Y and say "hey man, congratz nice outfit". Because ye, it looks nice. Bue does it feel special? It's just another fashionable good piece like all others have for some €.

I understand that the game has to find is way to be sustainable and Fashion content generates cash. But let's be real. This game fighting system and mounts are better than any other in the market competition, maps and visual details are also very good. People enjoy the universe and the story. So why does a game with millions of people that tried it, gets to a situation where probably 90% of the people that tried the game, doesn't even play it anymore.

My answer is simple. Yes, we are better in a lot of things. Almost all. But the game feels quite boring and with repeatable or ugly rewards lots of the time. Why? Because almost every cool fashionable content is on Gemstore and is not dropable anywhere.

Yes, we can farm gold and convert to gems and just buy it. But again, it doesn't feel special. Because anyone can just put 20€ and have the same thing and anyone in the world can have easy access to the same outfit or skin. And when anyone can easily have that kind of cool content via gemstore, luxury items don't feel like luxury anymore. They just feel regular. They're the average of the game because it's just too easy to get them. And the players that wouldn't mind to actually PLAY the game and fill maps, dungeons, etc, to get those kind of cool things, just left to other games were they feel rewarded, with the hours they invest or with the luck they may get in drops without even playing that much.

And you cannot put so much different currencies into a game and just put things on map merchants and say "this is the game where you don't need luck to have the things you want". yes, we farm currency doing repeatable things that once more in the majority of the situations have a clear lack of super rare and rare cool drops. Why? Because either they are on NPC merchants when would be much more fun if they're dropable also, or on gemstore.

So, what happens to do game? Instead of people farming Dungeon X to obtain Minipet drop Z or Outfit W, you see 90% of the world map without no one and almost everyone doing the same Meta events everyday because everyone follows the path that grant us the best profit. While if you really had dropable cool content, people would follow the events that drop things they like.

If this game had a monthly subscription since Launch (if it was launched properly with raids and fractals since beginning), and 0 fashionable content via gemstore (or very limited in special dates), I guarantee you, there would be so much more people just playing the game... that would be the real Fashion Wars and we know how people enjoy to look cool and upgrade their style.

TL;DR - Gemstore fashion items killed the true Fashion Wars that would keep maps and content much more alive. The medicine to cure this game, the method of making money via gemstore fashionable items, made a lot of players just leave the game because almost no skin, outfit or glider in this game feels special. Yes, they look nice. But they don't feel special because they're just everywhere. And if nothing feels special, what's really the point to farm gold and repeat events? yes, there is some cool skin content obtainable via achievments. Yes, they look cool. Once again, they will not feel special because there is no Fashion Wars, because all maps are fulled with tons of skins that a player can just install the game and buy the coolest skin on gemstore. And you can say "that doesn't matter, it's just clothes and minipets and that way we all have easy access to anything we want, we can just convert gold or buy with gems instead of endless farming to try to get luck".

INB4 again-> 1st no, you would not need to farm endlessly to have that thing you want and depend on luck. Why? Because there's a Trading Post and you could just make the gold that the item is priced for and buy it. 2nd, almost zero hope of surprise in any event because cool items are more on gemstore than dropable in the world. And even if you get one of the few cool items that are dropable, they just don't feel speacial anymore like they would feel in GW1. Why? Because the game is already fulled with shinny and cool things that almost every player easily got from gemstore.

So, congratulations. Because the medicine for this game of making money via gemstore is what is killing real content activity, and the sad thing about that is that this game had the potential to be much better than anyother. And yes, some players that prefer the easy way of gemstore could leave without that kind easy way to get cool fashion items. But the real players that can really full your maps and your events and your dungeons and everything would be there and comeback and attract even more to the truly sense of Fashion Wars. People that love the story, or any game mode inside the game, wouldn't leave I'm sure of that.

And if you use your head you can find another way to make money than fashion items on gemstore. Work on expansions and make us pay for REAL LIVING content instead of dead fractals and raids. Work on real xpacs and make money on it. Because if there is quality and purpose and meaning and the game can make us feel special, people play.

Improve your marketing and put your eyes on Baby Yoda, and make Aurene and Baby Aurene viral. Because it looks much cooler and cute than Baby Yoda and has potential to take over Internet and advertise your/our game in a incredible way. You want a Gemstore? What about opening a real online store with GW2 cups? Keychains, t-shirts, sweats, real miniatures, etc.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

You certainly gave this a lot of thought.

[joneirikb.7506]

TLDR you want:

• exclusivity/prestige
• drop/gambling adrenaline
• long term goals/grind

People are going to agree or disagree with that. Personally I disagree, but don't feel strongly about it, since I don't really care for the gemstore skins either, nor most of the reward skins. Basically put I have very little interest in "fashion wars", other than the option to disable everyones else' eye-cancer... I mean "fashion" so I don't have to see it.

All gear drop rates are from the same drop table more or less, so any content still have way to drop any skin. Changing that would be a titanic mess for ANet, lots of lots of tables to upkeep and change continually. So chances for making different loot tables for different mobs or parts are very low.

If this game had a monthly subscription since Launch (if it was launched properly with raids and fractals since beginning), and 0 fashionable content via gemstore (or very limited in special dates), I guarantee you, there would be so much more people just playing the game... that would be the real Fashion Wars and we know how people enjoy to look cool and upgrade their style.

Speculation with no way to know. Also if gw2 came with a sub, it would have alienated the majority of existing players from GW1, as no subs has always been one of the major selling points for the GW franchise.

[Raknar.4735]

Yikes, another topic about the same thing. You are allowed to have your own opinion about the "worth" of skins, but remember it's just your opinion.And my opinion is that "prestigious" skins are just bogus. Overall character design > "prestige" skins

You're also generalizing an awful lot about what players want, conceiling your own desires. Also, you don't get to decide what "real" content is for others, every player can decide that himself. Some people enjoy raids, others enjoy dressing up their characters and some enjoy doing JPs. To them that is their content.

[DiogoAfonso.2136]

Some decades ago, a simple car was a luxury and a rare thing. The car goes on the street, and people looked. Now almost every car is just a car, everyone has one. But still, there are the ones you look back to see again and say "wow, that's a pretty nice car that i dont see all days".

That feeling was removed from GW2 by Gemstore. Now "luxury" is the average, so it doesn't feel like luxury and worth look twice anymore.

I know that these things don't affect performance or improve the strenght of the character. But the way we brag about it, about GW2 having a lot and only cosmetic contents on Gemstore is distracting us of the real fact... if minipets, glider skins and mount skins and other gemstore exclusive skin content were dropable in area X, Y or mode Z, people would play a LOT more.

And no, people wouldnt depent on just luck to get what they want. People at the end would at least have gold that they wouldn't need to convert in any shit, because they could just go to trading post and buy the item they wanted. But at least they would need to play the game to have things, they would need to earn it, instead of just buying on a gemstore. And guess what? If people needs to play in game, to have the fashion items they want... people will play... and start playing in a more addictive way until they get the things they want. And then you just have to keep things fresh and rotate rewards and put some more new dropable COOL skins dropable. Not just the shitty ones dropable and the super detailed and pretty ones only on gemstore.

I dare ANet to do 1 simple experiment. People always talk about "dungeons are dead content". Launch an exclusive minipet set with a glider/backpack and let's say a mount skin collection dropable ONLY on dungeons. People will play and farm those dungeons for sure. Or they would, in normal conditions... in the state where the game is now where any new skin is just one more because already almost every player has dozens of special easy access items from gemstore i don't really know... because its very hard to give any item that sense of feeling special, when all maps are fulled with gemstore content.

Nowadays Anet launches 1 new mount skin on gemstore. If you see that skin on the game, you don't pay attention, someone just paid to have it. If ANet launches 1 new mount skin as Dropable and not on gemstore, and on that day or next days you see that skin, you will notice for sure and appreciate the rarity of the piece of art you are watching in front of you.

[Raknar.4735]

And others just see a car as a .... well car. Some don't even care about them and don't care how much it cost. Same thing for me with skins. I couldn't care less if you had the most "prestigious" skin if it just looks bad on your character, because you just put it on without a second thought about the overall appearance.

If you're just using skins because they are luxurious and trying to show off, instead of actually caring about the looks of the character, you'll just come off as shallow to me.

And I see you're still going on about the gemstore being the only place to get "cool" skins. Most are just overly flashy, not cool. But keep on ignoring actually nice skins like the ebon vanguard shoulders, the dragonrender helmet, the boneskinner backpiece and more.

[DiogoAfonso.2136]

@"Raknar.4735" said:Yikes, another topic about the same thing. You are allowed to have your own opinion about the "worth" of skins, but remember it's just your opinion.And my opinion is that "prestigious" skins are just bogus. Overall character design > "prestige" skins

You're also generalizing an awful lot about what players want, conceiling your own desires. Also, you don't get to decide what "real" content is for others, every player can decide that himself. Some people enjoy raids, others enjoy dressing up their characters and some enjoy doing JPs. To them that is their content.

I guess that the LFG being almost dead all day (except some meta events, and only during some hours of the day) when GW2 and GW1 had millions of players, tells you a lot about what players want. Most of them stopped playing to go play games that are not better, not even close, than our sweet GW. I tell you, WoW is a trash compared to GW in almost everything. But people there go play and farm miniatures. Because that is the kind of thing that keep old content and maps alive, that give reasons to play that areas and game modes. Sure, it's a rare drop. But once more, you could buy it from Trading Post if gemstore wouldn't exist. So, what's really that excuse of "gemstore allows us to not depend on luck." . No. It allows you to banalize cool things that should be rare and a reason for people to play and work for them. It doesn't depend on luck to make 100 gold to go to trading post to buy the rare minipet you want... but when he is already on gemstore and A LOT of people has it for some €, you don't even want to convert gold to gems to have it also. Because it doesn't feel special anymore when u know you worked for that, while others paid some € for that.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

There is definitely a quality difference when it comes to Gem cosmetics. Sure we had two armor sets and great weapons last season, but when you compare Pharus to the Mythic Weapons as a recent example its such a shame.

[nottsgman.8206]

so whats the difference between someone paying money for a gem store item and someone paying money to convert to gold to buy an item off the trading post? how would item on the trading post more prestigious when you can spend money to get it?

[DiogoAfonso.2136]

@"Raknar.4735" said:And others just see a car as a .... well car. Some don't even care about them and don't care how much it cost. Same thing for me with skins. I couldn't care less if you had the most "prestigious" skin if it just looks bad on your character, because you just put it on without a second thought about the overall appearance.

If you're just using skins because they are luxurious and trying to show off, instead of actually caring about the looks of the character, you'll just come off as shallow to me.

And I see you're still going on about the gemstore being the only place to get "cool" skins. Most are just overly flashy, not cool. But keep on ignoring actually nice skins like the ebon vanguard shoulders, the dragonrender helmet, the boneskinner backpiece and more.

Well, i'm sure that the money spent on gems shows you the importance skins and looks and minipets have in this game. Sure they're not a competitive advantage, but i'm pretty sure that if someone can spend thousands of euros to buy them, a lot more people wouldn't mind to spend a lot of hours farming them and playing the game actually while doing. Ok, you don't care about appearance, but if those things were dropable and gemstore was closed, game experience would be improved for you, even if you don't care about skins. Why? Because every content and map in the world would feel much more alive because people would be actually playing the game instead of paying to get things they like, because a LOT of people like cosmetics.

[Raknar.4735]

@DiogoAfonso.2136 said:

@"Raknar.4735" said:Yikes, another topic about the same thing. You are allowed to have your own opinion about the "worth" of skins, but remember it's just your opinion.And my opinion is that "prestigious" skins are just bogus. Overall character design > "prestige" skins

You're also generalizing an awful lot about what players want, conceiling your own desires. Also, you don't get to decide what "real" content is for others, every player can decide that himself. Some people enjoy raids, others enjoy dressing up their characters and some enjoy doing JPs. To them that is their content.

I guess that the LFG being almost dead all day (except some meta events, and only during some hours of the day) when GW2 and GW1 had millions of players, tells you a lot about what players want. Most of them stopped playing to go play games that are not better, not even close, than our sweet GW. I tell you, WoW is a trash compared to GW in almost everything. But people there go play and farm miniatures. Because that is the kind of thing that keep old content and maps alive, that give reasons to play that areas and game modes. Sure, it's a rare drop. But once more, you could buy it from Trading Post if gemstore wouldn't exist. So, what's really that excuse of "gemstore allows us to not depend on luck." . No. It allows you to banalize cool things that should be rare and a reason for people to play and work for them. It doesn't depend on luck to make 100 gold to go to trading post to buy the rare minipet you want... but when he is already on gemstore and A LOT of people has it for some €, you don't even want to convert gold to gems to have it also. Because it doesn't feel special anymore when u know you worked for that, while others paid some € for that.

Guess people are playing the gamemodes they are enjoying, such a strange thing, playing what they find fun.WoW is a pretty great game, else people wouldn't play it. You can call it trash all you want, I myself stopped after WotLK, but I can still see the appeal.What you didn't mention is that you can get most minipets in WoW solo, since the content is outdated for the current Lvl and stats. They just solo the old dungeons and raids. They don't need their own LFG for that.And about a lot of mounts and rare pets there: they also just buy them through the auction house. How is that better? They can do the same thing GW2 players can, just instead of buying gems or converting gold to gems, they just buy the wow coin and convert that into gold.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Fueki.4753 said:To me, Fashion Wars died once they stopped making armours and focused on one-piece outfits.To me, mixing and matching pieces is the lifeblood of Fashion Wars. Not even the vast colours selection can save it anymore.

Hear! Hear! Outfits do not interest me in the least because of the lack of ability to mix/match pieces. This prevents me from spending anything in the gem store for fashion.

So many outfits with pieces I would like to use.

[Raknar.4735]

@DiogoAfonso.2136 said:

@"Raknar.4735" said:And others just see a car as a .... well car. Some don't even care about them and don't care how much it cost. Same thing for me with skins. I couldn't care less if you had the most "prestigious" skin if it just looks bad on your character, because you just put it on without a second thought about the overall appearance.

If you're just using skins because they are luxurious and trying to show off, instead of actually caring about the looks of the character, you'll just come off as shallow to me.

And I see you're still going on about the gemstore being the only place to get "cool" skins. Most are just overly flashy, not cool. But keep on ignoring actually nice skins like the ebon vanguard shoulders, the dragonrender helmet, the boneskinner backpiece and more.

Well, i'm sure that the money spent on gems shows you the importance skins and looks and minipets have in this game. Sure they're not a competitive advantage, but i'm pretty sure that if someone can spend thousands of euros to buy them, a lot more people wouldn't mind to spend a lot of hours farming them and playing the game actually while doing. Ok, you don't care about appearance, but if those things were dropable and gemstore was closed, game experience would be improved for you, even if you don't care about skins. Why? Because every content and map in the world would feel much more alive because people would be actually playing the game instead of paying to get things they like, because a LOT of people like cosmetics.

I care a lot about appearance, I just don't care about "luxurious" skins, since most often then not the people just want to brag, but their character looks horrendous, because they are just stacking the most expensive stuff.I see a lot of players in the world running around, and i can find groups just fine. And if I don't see one instantly I just create my own one. It fills pretty fast, too.

And there are actually a lot of minipets available in GW2 that are attainable through gameplay. Most raid bosses have one. Have you even checked all the traders on the map, especially the LS maps? Minis everywhere.

[Seera.5916]

@DiogoAfonso.2136 said:

@"Raknar.4735" said:Yikes, another topic about the same thing. You are allowed to have your own opinion about the "worth" of skins, but remember it's just your opinion.And my opinion is that "prestigious" skins are just bogus. Overall character design > "prestige" skins

You're also generalizing an awful lot about what players want, conceiling your own desires. Also, you don't get to decide what "real" content is for others, every player can decide that himself. Some people enjoy raids, others enjoy dressing up their characters and some enjoy doing JPs. To them that is their content.

I guess that the LFG being almost dead all day (except some meta events, and only during some hours of the day) when GW2 and GW1 had millions of players, tells you a lot about what players want. Most of them stopped playing to go play games that are not better, not even close, than our sweet GW. I tell you, WoW is a trash compared to GW in almost everything. But people there go play and farm miniatures. Because that is the kind of thing that keep old content and maps alive, that give reasons to play that areas and game modes. Sure, it's a rare drop. But once more, you could buy it from Trading Post if gemstore wouldn't exist. So, what's really that excuse of "gemstore allows us to not depend on luck." . No. It allows you to banalize cool things that should be rare and a reason for people to play and work for them. It doesn't depend on luck to make 100 gold to go to trading post to buy the rare minipet you want... but when he is already on gemstore and A LOT of people has it for some €, you don't even want to convert gold to gems to have it also. Because it doesn't feel special anymore when u know you worked for that, while others paid some € for that.

If I want a minipet that's on the gem store and I don't already have the gems or want to spend money on the gems, I would want to convert my gold to gems to buy it. I don't care how many other players have it.

I obtain things in Guild Wars 2 because I want them and their cost is within the realm of how much I want to pay for it based on what I'm going for. Not dependent on how rare or common an item is.

I don't care how other people think I obtained something. Because I know how I obtained it and I'm the only one that matters in that. Like I don't care if people think I bought my Meteorlogicus with a credit card. I crafted it and the precursor. But I know I crafted it and that's all that matters.

Like right now, I'm not looking to buy any karma gear because I might want to use my karma for obsidian shards. I know there are likely better means to acquire them but they involve farming and my threshold for farming tolerance is low. Like I can barely tolerate doing Silverwastes for one loop of the meta low.

[Fueki.4753]

@Eloc Freidon.5692 said:There is definitely a quality difference when it comes to Gem cosmetics. Sure we had two armor sets and great weapons last season, but when you compare Pharus to the Mythic Weapons as a recent example its such a shame.

I like Pharus better than most legendaries.It's simple and pretty.And it's not a rainbow'ish glowing washboard like Eternity is.It's design is not something stupid like a Quaggan (eww) in a glass, a My Little Pony shooter or a ship rifle either.

[Nerox.8731]

@Trise.2865 said:Gems can be bought with Gold. Therefore anything that can be bought with Gems are in-game content. The point is moot.

I hate this horrible argument. Gold to gems exist but is horribly inefficient to the average Player. You're looking at 20g an hour doing soulless farming in the open world. With this in mind, a mount Skin requires 37 Hours of grinding, an Outfit or single weapon skin 13 Hours, one mini 7.5 hours.

There's no way in hell a casual player will ever use this. It's a one-way system for them to get gold, but never gems. Your Point is moot.

[borgs.6103]

I have character quality to lowest and have generic player models enabled.

Take that, end-game!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Really? No casual players convert Gold to Gems? I guess players have been labeling me inaccurately all these years. I had no idea I was 'hardcore'. Lol.

[MachineManXX.9746]

The game has ALWAYS existed for monetary gain. What would make you think otherwise? The developers enjoyment of well, developing, and the monetization of the game do not have to be mutually exclusive. They have to coexist and I believe they generally do.

[Daishi.6027]

@Nerox.8731 said:

@"Trise.2865" said:Gems can be bought with Gold. Therefore anything that can be bought with Gems are in-game content. The point is moot.

I hate this horrible argument. Gold to gems exist but is horribly inefficient to the average Player. You're looking at 20g an hour doing soulless farming in the open world. With this in mind, a mount Skin requires 37 Hours of grinding, an Outfit or single weapon skin 13 Hours, one mini 7.5 hours.

There's no way in hell a casual player will ever use this. It's a one-way system for them to get gold, but never gems. Your Point is moot.

Making money in game really isn't that hard and is fairly effortless. Grinding is a component, but for the most part just playing normal end game content without any particular drive to farm, and just "enjoying" and "living" in the world- so long as you aren't simply Semi-afking in towns, or ONLY pvping in the FFA arena (which I'd argue should have some rewards); you will turn a reasonable profit.

Sure' if you only do festivals and open world content inefficiently, so you aren't spending your resources to gain value gold turning rewards; you're in for a big farm.

As someone who flips on the trade post, I make gold even when not logged in. I'm not as crazy as some people who really go hard on PvPing the trade post, but as a player who has his hands in everything except WvW, and even don't play as much as I used to; Only every so often do I feel I need to drop a bit of money on gems. And when I do it's with the intention to either:A. Support the game and the current direction. (Like I will not give the game money if I do not like the balance changes, or for example: After listening to concerns regarding skyscale timegate I gave them a large sum, not because I got any benefit since I still had to wait; but because it showed that they understood it couldn't be set as a precedent).or B. Treat myself to something from the gem store without drawing down my gold capital.

Yet I still make more than enough gold, even if at times it's mostly in assets or waiting to sell, plus we do get regular story and content updates that we didn't have a to pay a sub for...So... I don't think the "gems can be bought with gold" arguments is in any way dismiss-able simply as 'invalid' or 'bad'.

A casual may struggle if they realllllly don't know what they are doing, but anyone who gets to endgame should be able to buy out a 700 gem glider + back pack glider every now and then. So unless you want to buy EVERYTHING on the gem store, I hardly see an issue.

inb4: "But not everyone uses the trade post" Maybe, but you only need about 30-60 gold to start growing capital. If people aren't doing that, or don't know how that's on them. (Some people never learn to dodge and then say content is to hard. lol)

All that said. I do think there needs to be more rewards to incentivize skillful content. However, and understandably; casuals do make up the majority of the market, and for things like PvP armor, and Raid chairs, etc, they risk devaluing prestige items if they are over saturated. I do dislike getting "mediocre at best" weapons out of Living world like the Boreal weapons, which I'm sure some people are really into. However, when we get capes and things like the Mythic weapons in the trade post in turn, I think my bold statement above is all the more relevant.

[ThomasC.1056]

Hello,

I digged a bit, and found the answer I gave last year to that issue. It's still relevant I think.

@ThomasC.1056 said:I'm a bit worried about this too.

When I see all the new mounts which require some design, and animation, and sometimes sounds made, I understand that a part of the limited and precious dev time is dedicated to these.Now, I understand money is necessary and that the gem store is a way to cash some dollars. Yet... cash some dollars for what ? Usually, the answer is : cash some dollars to create the content, which implies : cash some dollars to make limited and precious dev time happen.

I have now clue what part of dev time is dedicated to the gem store items vs. in-game content in all its implications (skills revamp and balance, map creation, coding, episodes creation etc etc etc), but there's one thing I'm sure : if the whole point of releasing gem store items is cash dollars to create more gem store items to release, then there's no more game.

So, maybe it's just an illusion because it's easier to release things in the gem store, so it happens more frequently, but I must confess it overall worries me.