Fashion wars is becoming unblanced.

[Guest]

@"DiogoAfonso.2136" said:I don't know if anyone here played GW1, but in GW2 amazing skins and outfits and minipets just look like a banality.

So... you're gonna argue that GW1 graphics were better? Feels like a rose-colored memory to me.

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.

There's plenty of content like that in the game already - Legendary weapons, backpacks, and trinkets, and all the stuff associated with raids (and we see how popular those are).

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.

So, what I'm hearing is that, in a game with thousands of skin choices acquired from dozens of types of play and hundreds of sources, where you can equip any skin at any time for any reason, you want whatever it is you personally are wearing to identify you immediately to all as a very special hardcore player.

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,

If the gemstore only sold non-fashion stuff then that would pretty much leave p2win. There's no way they'd ever make any money on just semi-useless utility items.

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 kitten backpack. Why? Because the cool content would feel special.

There are already rare items in the game (e.g. music boxes, PoF minipets), very grindy achievements, very expensive achievements, or very difficult achievements. You want more of that? Well here are the problems:

1. If you leave it up to ultra-rare RNG, then we'll get all the opposite threads about how it's too hard/grindy/boring to get the item (e.g. Invisible Boots)
2. If you care just about the status, and you can sell the item on the TP, then we're back to the whole "how do you know if that X player 'earned' that skin or bought it"
3. We already experienced all this with legendary precursors at launch. The amount of rage spilled over people throwing tons gold at the mystic toilet or grinding events forever with no result led to the crafting avenue we have now.

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 €.

See, again, all I'm hearing is that you want something that you personally can achieve but very few others can/will so that you can inflate your ego. How many players have the Legendary WvW wings, let's say? You may think you see them a lot but I'd wager as a percent of the game's pop its' very small. You want to go for something pointless and rare? Go for "Twice-Told Legend"

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.

Because that's how game lifecycles/attrition work. Some percentage of the players find it suits their gaming needs long-term and will stay, a whole lot of players always like to move on to something new and aren't the kind to stay with an IP day after day, year after year no matter what. Some will cycle in and out. Different strokes.

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.

Round and round we go, but I say again: if you can trade it, "easy" and "hard" have no meaning, just "value." We tried this with precursors. And those could be traded. And the community... wasn't fond of it, other than the TP barons who made a killing on them. And if you can't trade it, current in-game content suggests that ultra-rare RNG will not be much of a draw for most players.

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.

The map currencies and vendors (and even Black Lion statuettes) were added because the overwhelming majority of players disagrees with you and doesn't want to do the same content endlessly for a minuscule reward with a tiny, tiny RNG chance of something ultra-rare. That is just not popular content.

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.

Players who are motivated by maximum profit will always do whatever maximizes profit. Untradeable ultrarare drops won't change that, and if they're tradable, I already explained the issue there. GW2 has actually done a much better job than most MMOs at keeping older maps relatively active. Players who just do what they like for fun will continue to do that.

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.

Fractals have been in since the beginning. I really don't know whether it would have done well with a subscription, but it was specifically developed and marketed as an alternative to the WoW model, so...

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.

TL;DR - You just want something only you can have. There's plenty of stuff now that most players don't have.

[DoRi Silvia.4159]

While I agree with the op about how there isnt much the game offers for players to strive for in game, I also think that it is okay that all the flashy stuff is gemstore items.That's what sells.Anet get money, we play longerThe way I see it

[Bridget Morrigan.1752]

Knowledge is knowing that prestige cosmetics from the gem store undermine prestige cosmetics from gameplay.

Wisdom is outfitting your character in whatever way makes you happy and recognizing that there's no such thing as prestige cosmetics because everyone else thinks you look like garbage anyway.

[Gop.8713]

If you're playing for the rewards you've already lost . . .

[Danikat.8537]

One point I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the content itself (maps, stories, skills, things to do) is free, at least if you log in within a few months of it being released. I admit it's an odd way of doing things - to give away the actual maps and stories and other content and then sell a selection of items which would normally be unlocked by playing, but it seems to work.

It's actually more convinient for me because it means I can always play the new releases as soon as they come out, and only have to spend money on the game when I feel like it, rather than having to pay for new DLC before I can play it or having to pay a subscription simply for permission to access the stuff I've already bought. Although it might also help that I generally seem to prefer the in-game weapons and armour to gem store ones, I don't buy many outfits because having to change the dyes ruins the convinience factor, I only buy mount skins when they're discounted and I'm still fine playing without a lot of the convinience items I'm told I need, so I think I buy a lot less from the gem store than a lot of people on this forum. (Although probably a lot more than most GW2 players, since I've heard that the majority of players in any game will never spend anything beyond the initial purchase price.)

[Dante.1763]

@"Danikat.8537" said:One point I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the content itself (maps, stories, skills, things to do) is free, at least if you log in within a few months of it being released. I admit it's an odd way of doing things - to give away the actual maps and stories and other content and then sell a selection of items which would normally be unlocked by playing, but it seems to work.

It's actually more convinient for me because it means I can always play the new releases as soon as they come out, and only have to spend money on the game when I feel like it, rather than having to pay for new DLC before I can play it or having to pay a subscription simply for permission to access the stuff I've already bought. Although it might also help that I generally seem to prefer the in-game weapons and armour to gem store ones, I don't buy many outfits because having to change the dyes ruins the convinience factor, I only buy mount skins when they're discounted and I'm still fine playing without a lot of the convinience items I'm told I need, so I think I buy a lot less from the gem store than a lot of people on this forum. (Although probably a lot more than most GW2 players, since I've heard that the majority of players in any game will never spend anything beyond the initial purchase price.)

See, i wouldnt mind paying 10-20 per release if it included all the stuff that gets added to the gemstore normally during the inbetween phase of the next story. And i dont mean the "Terrible RNG way to obtain the item" that exists for some of the cooler items in game, the drop rate would need to be decent for once. But i know thatll never happen, paying for DLC is so out of date...

[Brandon Uzumaki.1524]

C'mon people, it's not hard to make gold in this game, i managed to get 1.300g as a frigin f2p player, with all the restrictions and stuff.

image for proof, cause i dunno how to post directly here.

https://imgur.com/a/Ni7xALC

[Rasimir.6239]

@"DiogoAfonso.2136" said:

(snip) 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 (snip)Don't you think there's a flaw in your argument? Wouldn't the devs be better off to concentrate their efforts on the majority of players rather than on the "lots" (or maybe really just few compared to the majority) that only play to feel as if they are better than others?

[Danikat.8537]

@Dante.1763 said:

@"Danikat.8537" said:One point I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the content itself (maps, stories, skills, things to do) is free, at least if you log in within a few months of it being released. I admit it's an odd way of doing things - to give away the actual maps and stories and other content and then sell a selection of items which would normally be unlocked by playing, but it seems to work.

It's actually more convinient for me because it means I can always play the new releases as soon as they come out, and only have to spend money on the game when I feel like it, rather than having to pay for new DLC before I can play it or having to pay a subscription simply for permission to access the stuff I've already bought. Although it might also help that I generally seem to prefer the in-game weapons and armour to gem store ones, I don't buy many outfits because having to change the dyes ruins the convinience factor, I only buy mount skins when they're discounted and I'm still fine playing without a lot of the convinience items I'm told I need, so I think I buy a lot less from the gem store than a lot of people on this forum. (Although probably a lot more than most GW2 players, since I've heard that the majority of players in any game will never spend anything beyond the initial purchase price.)

See, i wouldnt mind paying 10-20 per release if it included all the stuff that gets added to the gemstore normally during the inbetween phase of the next story. And i dont mean the "Terrible RNG way to obtain the item" that exists for some of the cooler items in game, the drop rate would need to be decent for once. But i know thatll never happen, paying for DLC is so out of date...

You can sort-of do that now. If you like an episode and decide it's one you would have been happy to buy you spend whatever you think it's worth buying gems, then choose something from the gem store to get with it. I know it's not exactly the same because you're not really earning those items in the game, but other than that it all lines up.

And every episode does also have some stuff to unlock in-game, including non-RNG things, it just might not be stuff you want. Or if you're anything like me stuff you don't know you want until months later. It was only after Season 5 started that I decided I did want the mist shard armour and a dragonsblood weapon, having previously looked at both and thought they weren't for me.

[Dante.1763]

@Danikat.8537 said:

@Dante.1763 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:One point I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the content itself (maps, stories, skills, things to do) is free, at least if you log in within a few months of it being released. I admit it's an odd way of doing things - to give away the actual maps and stories and other content and then sell a selection of items which would normally be unlocked by playing, but it seems to work.

It's actually more convinient for me because it means I can always play the new releases as soon as they come out, and only have to spend money on the game when I feel like it, rather than having to pay for new DLC before I can play it or having to pay a subscription simply for permission to access the stuff I've already bought. Although it might also help that I generally seem to prefer the in-game weapons and armour to gem store ones, I don't buy many outfits because having to change the dyes ruins the convinience factor, I only buy mount skins when they're discounted and I'm still fine playing without a lot of the convinience items I'm told I need, so I think I buy a lot less from the gem store than a lot of people on this forum. (Although probably a lot more than most GW2 players, since I've heard that the majority of players in any game will never spend anything beyond the initial purchase price.)

See, i wouldnt mind paying 10-20 per release if it included all the stuff that gets added to the gemstore normally during the inbetween phase of the next story. And i dont mean the "Terrible RNG way to obtain the item" that exists for some of the cooler items in game, the drop rate would need to be decent for once. But i know thatll never happen, paying for DLC is so out of date...

You can sort-of do that now. If you like an episode and decide it's one you would have been happy to buy you spend whatever you think it's worth buying gems, then choose something from the gem store to get with it. I know it's not exactly the same because you're not really earning those items in the game, but other than that it all lines up.

And every episode does also have some stuff to unlock in-game, including non-RNG things, it just might not be stuff you want. Or if you're anything like me stuff you don't know you want until months later. It was only after Season 5 started that I decided I did want the mist shard armour and a dragonsblood weapon, having previously looked at both and thought they weren't for me.

You literally cant get all the items they add during the in between time for the price i listed there, but it was an example im just saying i wouldnt mind paying money for the releases if it included all the items they normally add on the store.

[Teratus.2859]

As others have said, everything in the store can be bought with in game gold..

The gemstore works as a method of income for what is largely a free game at this point.. and it's entirely optional with players choosing to spend as much or little as they feel is worth spending.

That imo means Gw2 has by far the best MMO model on the market.. and if you think otherwise you're wrong xD

[DiogoAfonso.2136]

@Teratus.2859 said:As others have said, everything in the store can be bought with in game gold..

The gemstore works as a method of income for what is largely a free game at this point.. and it's entirely optional with players choosing to spend as much or little as they feel is worth spending.

That imo means Gw2 has by far the best MMO model on the market.. and if you think otherwise you're wrong xD

If there was no gemstore you could bought everything in game with...guess what...gold. Ye, and how could you win gold? ye....playing the game. What a crazy idea.

And don't even compare the feeling of doing an event knowing that at least you have a chance, even if minimal, of having very nice different drops and be surprised and happpy to share with chat that drop, than the feeling of just converting or buying gems to have things. The surprise effect it's much better and the LFG system being dead tells you where the game is going. To a so casual state that at some hours is very difficult or impossible seeing people doing cool and important events or dungeons or fractals at the game at all.

[Nerox.8731]

@"Daishi.6027" said:snip

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.

Sorry, but playing the TP is not an argument. The only reason TP flipping and to an extent investing works, is because the majority of the playerbase doesn't care about the TP. They prefer safe, instant return when selling something. If everyone wanted to Profit as much as possible, flipping wouldn't exist. Doesn't matter if people only need 50g to start flipping, it simply wouldn't work if everyone tried it.

Generally people have a hard time generating gold in this game. Casuals don't invest enough time to properly build up disposable income, and more experienced players rather invest it in new gear, characters or legendaries.

I've been playing the TP myself for about a year now, on average I generate thousands of gold a month with it. I can pretty much buy every Skin and craft every legendary I want at this point.But I remember crafting my first legendary, Bifrost, when I just started out. Finally getting that weapon felt amazing, a true accomplishment. That Feeling remains today, but recently started to really fade when I realize that the weapon I worked my ass off for is a worse version of the mythic staff that was recently introduced into the gemstore for $25.

[Super Hayes.6890]

@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.

I convert my mystic coins and laurels from login rewards to gold then to gems. This is how I make most of my gem store purchases. It is incredibly efficient I assure you. To be totally fair to your arguement, I am somewhere just above casual but nowhere close to hardcore. I also build up gold from dailies, teq and naked man event. Not much effort is needed to get gold in this game frankly. Since I mostly game with my children I don't make as much gold these days but I still purchase from the gem store with converted gold about once a month if there is something I want. If not I don't convert the gold and browse the TP instead.

[Super Hayes.6890]

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said: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.

I feel you. I had to upgrade my status from casual as well. Honestly, it felt good. Did this thread just become a milestone for us?

[DonArkanio.6419]

@"Brandon Uzumaki.1524" said:C'mon people, it's not hard to make gold in this game, i managed to get 1.300g as a frigin f2p player, with all the restrictions and stuff.

image for proof, cause i dunno how to post directly here.

https://imgur.com/a/Ni7xALC

That's the point. You farm gold for the item and buy it off the Cash Shop instead of achieving it through skilled gameplay or challenging content.

I personalny don't feel enjoyment when buying items straight from the shop. Be it Trading Post or Gem Store. Sadly these two guarantee you the desired items. Very few in-game skins are an exception.

[Nerox.8731]

@Super Hayes.6890 said:

@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.

I convert my mystic coins and laurels from login rewards to gold then to gems. This is how I make most of my gem store purchases. It is incredibly efficient I assure you. To be totally fair to your arguement, I am somewhere just above casual but nowhere close to hardcore. I also build up gold from dailies, teq and naked man event. Not much effort is needed to get gold in this game frankly. Since I mostly game with my children I don't make as much gold these days but I still purchase from the gem store with converted gold about once a month if there is something I want. If not I don't convert the gold and browse the TP instead.

Alright, let's break down why it's still inefficient:

According to https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Login_rewards, we generate 55 laurels and 20 mystic coins a month.Mystic coins average at 1.40g Right now, Laurels (according to https://gw2efficiency.com/currencies/laurels) are worth 63.96s each.In total, we generate ~59g ((28g + 42g) * 0,85 (TP tax)) per month. In gems, this is ~155 gems.

So, even factoring in Login rewards, you're still paying the vast majority from Gold you earned through playtime. Which to me, makes it still very inefficient.

[Raknar.4735]

@DonArkanio.6419 said:

@"Brandon Uzumaki.1524" said:C'mon people, it's not hard to make gold in this game, i managed to get 1.300g as a frigin f2p player, with all the restrictions and stuff.

image for proof, cause i dunno how to post directly here.

https://imgur.com/a/Ni7xALC

That's the point. You farm

gold

for the item and buy it off the Cash Shop instead of achieving it through skilled gameplay or challenging content.

Well, it was the same in GW1. You could just farm gold and buy rare skins. Tormented weapons? Check. Dhuum's Scythe? Check. The Froggy sceptre? Same thing. No "skill" required.So it shouldn't be too surprising that it is handled the same in GW2. I would argue there are more skill based items earned through challenging content in GW2.

[Obtena.7952]

This isn't a charity; something has to fund the game. If you don't like the business model, you don't have to participate in it. First, it's your choice to buy things with RL money in the GS and second, you can convert gold to gems. The argument that there is 'inbalance' between GS and ingame items makes zero sense because GS items ARE as accessible to people (in fact, THE most accessible items) compared to any other item you can get from a reward from content.

The OP says the main issue is that this doesn't encourage people to play they game ... that's not a problem. The CONTENT is what should encourage you to play the game.

[DonArkanio.6419]

@Raknar.4735 said:

@DonArkanio.6419 said:

@"Brandon Uzumaki.1524" said:C'mon people, it's not hard to make gold in this game, i managed to get 1.300g as a frigin f2p player, with all the restrictions and stuff.

image for proof, cause i dunno how to post directly here.

https://imgur.com/a/Ni7xALC

That's the point. You farm

gold

for the item and buy it off the Cash Shop instead of achieving it through skilled gameplay or challenging content.

Well, it was the same in GW1. You could just farm gold and buy rare skins. Tormented weapons? Check. Dhuum's Scythe? Check. The Froggy sceptre? Same thing. No "skill" required.So it shouldn't be too surprising that it is handled the same in GW2.

Yeah, I agree here. What changed is the scale of the whole situation.I do understand why ANet chose this business model but I can't say I'm happy about it. Most of the content we get nowadays is mostly a farming simulator to get those mats.Unfortunately for me - more playtime means also more annoyances along the way as I start to notice and think about stuff that's behind the curtains.

[voltaicbore.8012]

@Raknar.4735 said:

I myself am not a fan of overly flashy items, since they destroy a character's aesthetic most of the time. I'm more a fan of the new Dragonrender helmet and the Ebon Vanguard shoulders, which can be earned ingame, than the new BLTC Starborn Wings, which look horrendous on 85% of characters I've seen.

I completely second this idea - so much of the gem store stuff is just an eyesore, as well as infusions earned in-game. I think the Mythic weapons are the first thing I've seen on the gem store that I consider directly superior to various other in-game-earnable alternatives.

As for the OP's concerns, I'm with all the people who do not particularly share those concerns. Plenty of games don't even allow the equivalent of converting gold to gems, or it's at a much more horribly inefficient rate than GW2. Furthermore, the game lacks significant gold sinks for more casual players, so you can hang onto your gold fairly easily. While I do detest RNG and gambling when it comes to purchasable items, that's not the focus of this thread, so I'll leave that for a different discussion.

[Shadowmoon.7986]

Two bad arguements over and over again.Gold to gem arguements: people who keep repeating this must have been asleep during their high school economic class. "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch". A whale bought those gems and converted them to gold. This drive a game design decisions that encourages gemstore rewards over playing the game rewards.Anet has to fund the game somehow: guess what people they are not. What triggered the layoffs, at least two failed projects funded by gemstore sells. They were not reinvesting into the game to make it better, they were chasing mobile trends and gw3 sequel, they were using the money to make another buy to play game to fill with micro transactions. And they are still doing it. Why was the last living story lackluster, why is there no xpac being developed, because they are chasing a single player console title. For month they been hiring people with Unreal 3 experience(gw2 does not run on u3) and console experience.

What is becoming apparent is anet seem uncommitted to this game, and ncsoft has a history of gutting studios. I see allot of parallels with paragon studios

[mindcircus.1506]

@Syrus.2174You do not understand the difference between cosmetics and content.It renders your entire post valueless.

[Randulf.7614]

I've never really agreed with it being fashion wars. I don't think players really care too much what others look like. And given the glowing mismatched montrosities I see on mounts and armours, I'm unconvinced many care what they look like themselves.

GW2 has a lot of fashion options, but the different gfx settings and the wholly horrific visual noise problem Anet have really tried hard to push into the game mean that it is difficult to admire anything truly good anyway

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

If 'whales' buy Gems to convert to Gold, and this drives Gem Store rewards, why didn't the 'whales' just use the Gems to acquire the Gem Store rewards instead of the lackluster in-game rewards?