Mount skins are too expensive

[Vayne.8563]

25 minutes ago, Dante.1508 said:

I was yes but then they vanished here.. All three EB Games near me sold out. Then it was online or bust. In the end i went with bust. Until now it seems they have returned.

Yep I think they all got them back in. I've been buying the for a while now.

[Gerebos.1065]

It's expensive because 5 mounts are locked behind achievement locks from which 2 takes from weeks to months to complete.

So from all mounts:

Raptor,Springer,Skimmer - Free and story unlock

Roller beetle;Jackal,Warclaw(WvW) - Not much work to get in matter of days maybe a week in worst case.

Griffon and Skyscale - Hard and expensive to get.

 

You can check it here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mount

 

There are quite a lot of skins for the 3 free mounts,some I bought even myself.

Feel free to check and calculate the amount of skins here : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gallery_of_mount_skins

Let's say you are a casual player with family,life,etc so you don't waste time getting the Skyscale,Griffon maybe the Beetle or hate pvp so no warclaw  then you are left with around 4 mounts.

If we calculate maybe 2 skins/mount which you like,let's assume you like all your mounts:Raptor,Skimmer,Springer,Jackal and you got 8 skins then you are done and won't spend a single dime anymore maybe in a future a new skin you like but at this price it must be something good.

To be honest I would have spent money on some Skyscale skins and Griffon too but since I not got them it won't happen and from here we go to the high prices.

As more players are casual than hardcore many don't have not even the Beetle or Jackal mounts so why bother buying licenses or skins ?

Licenses can drop skin for mounts you don't own and why buy skin for something you don't own?

Now Anet have to make money so they increase the price overall for all to compensate the loss.

It's my opinion and I can be wrong but if Anet keeps limiting themselves like this just to make a few elite happy the prices will keep like this and other things too.

Other games solved this issue that maked locked contet easier or player is able to approach from more ways.

Many of casuals are willing to pay as far as I talked within guild and with others in events but it's totally up to Anet how they continue with the next update for example.

If they make Turtle and Skiffs like Skyscale not many will farm it and ofc less people buy skins for them.

As I said just my opinion on why the price is this high,no offense

 

 

[Fuchslein.8639]

Yep, they are~ expensive. But a few of them are really pretty so ... gold or as a gift from friends is my approach x).

And you don't even have to have the gold right away. You can just save up. The skins keep coming every few months~.

And I'd rather they make them a little more expensive than hide them behind the BLK like a lot of other skins uu ....

[Sylari.9814]

This whole game is too expensive. Spent over 200 bucks on this game over the life of it between box purchases and story unlocks, but from the way Anet nickle and dimes people on things like character slots, inventory space and bank tabs it feels like I'm a f2p in one of those super stingy low budget MMOs. 

 

Rabidly anti-consumer. 

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Two hundred dollars, nine years.  Hmm, $22 per year for entertainment.  Outrageous!

[genjonah.1253]

ANet making money is a good thing for players. ANet making money off of cosmetics that have zero impact on gameplay is a great thing for the health of the game and the playerbase 

[YourOnlyOne.4937]

20 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Obviously, a skewed notion of rich and poor. 

Regardless, we will use that logic, and say...if you are too poor to afford Gems in your country, then you need to get a job or start a business.  Otherwise, just exchange Gold for Gems; the rate is the same everywhere. 

You fail to understand what is the issue is.

Let's use your logic: "if you are too poor to afford Gems in your country, then you need to get a job or start a business".

That logic is assuming that the price of the gems has been adjusted accordingly in each country. But did you know that the price of the gems is the same everywhere?

People who HAVE a job and maybe even a business in Country X, as per your logic, is no longer poor in that country but they are poor in the US standards (cost of living, salary rate, exchange rate). So, even if they have a good purchasing power in their Country, they do not have that purchasing power for a product priced under US standards/rates.

If at this point you US people still can not understand that, then you need to leave your money and migrate in countries not like the US and the EU. Experience it for yourself firsthand the huge gap between the US and EU and the rest of the world.

It is a faulty logic and a very skewed notion of rich and poor to assume that all poor in every country are equal and the same. Your US poor are rich in Country X. Those with purchasing power in Country X are either equal to or below poor in US standards.

Everybody wants ArenaNet to earn more? Give people with purchasing power in their local country the same level of purchasing power for gems by adjusting the price accordingly. These people can and are willing to buy gems but the non-adjusted US-based pricing is "expensive" for them.

Lastly, stop that "exchange gold for gems" or "farm gold" excuse. Not everyone is like you who have time to farm gold. If some people wants to spend real-money for whatever reason, that is their choice. It's their money. Problem is, even though they want to spend it so ArenaNet can pay their employees, they are not because the current gem price is "expensive" for them.

Put yourselves in the shoes of others and you will understand how the world works.

[YourOnlyOne.4937]

19 hours ago, Rasimir.6239 said:

There is one fundamental difference between McDonalds and ArenaNet. Burgers are sold and delivered locally, so you have to be in a specific country to buy one (and eat it close by if you don't want it to spoil), no way around it. Online games are sold and delivered online, and there ultimately is no way for the seller to control where you are when you buy it, much less where you are when you use it.

 

Sale and use of digital goods can of course be region-locked, so you can only use it in specific countries/regions of the world, but that includes a whole extra can of worms like drm to check if you are in the right place to access the service with your account, as well as the question what happens to people that have bought their products in one region, but then move to a region with different pricing. If you just check the region during the sale, there's technical options like vpn that mask your region of origin and pretend you are from someplace else. How should the vendor decide what region you are really in and what price to charge?

Where a card was issued has always been used to lock purchases of online goods. Amazon is a prime example of that, for years and years, you can not buy US-only items in Amazon if you use a non-US issued card (credit or debit).

PayPal, today, is also using the same, if your PayPal account was registered in Country A, you can only add credit/debit cards issued in Country A.

What's stopping ArenaNet from doing the same? None, zero, zilch.

So, no, there is no "whole extra can of worms like drm". That technology has been around since credit cards started accepting digital purchases.

And again, as I already mentioned, Netflix is doing exactly that and I'll add Spotify too, different pricing per country. "How should the vendor decide what region you are really in and what price to charge" and "VPNs" combined? Where the credit/debit card was issued. Streaming services are the number 1 source of technology with region-lock and price-adjustment. They don't just rely on your IP address, they also use your GNSS, and then the country that issued your card as the final check (if they choose to enable that feature, like Spotify, Amazon, and PayPal).

 

[Dante.1508]

7 hours ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Two hundred dollars, nine years.  Hmm, $22 per year for entertainment.  Outrageous!

270 a month.

[Xanadrine.4352]

Honestly I think 25 bucks is too much for a skin even though i did buy one. I think they should throw us a bone and maybe once a month have a chance for a random adoption license drop off a world boss event or something. Not asking for a guaranteed drop but put it out there as a rare drop. Its not going to break them and it would go a long way to making people happy. While were at it can we get armor pieces instead of all the outfits..my goodness people want to mix and match.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

5 hours ago, Shael.4703 said:

You fail to understand what is the issue is.

Let's use your logic: "if you are too poor to afford Gems in your country, then you need to get a job or start a business".

That logic is assuming that the price of the gems has been adjusted accordingly in each country. But did you know that the price of the gems is the same everywhere?

People who HAVE a job and maybe even a business in Country X, as per your logic, is no longer poor in that country but they are poor in the US standards (cost of living, salary rate, exchange rate). So, even if they have a good purchasing power in their Country, they do not have that purchasing power for a product priced under US standards/rates.

If at this point you US people still can not understand that, then you need to leave your money and migrate in countries not like the US and the EU. Experience it for yourself firsthand the huge gap between the US and EU and the rest of the world.

It is a faulty logic and a very skewed notion of rich and poor to assume that all poor in every country are equal and the same. Your US poor are rich in Country X. Those with purchasing power in Country X are either equal to or below poor in US standards.

Everybody wants ArenaNet to earn more? Give people with purchasing power in their local country the same level of purchasing power for gems by adjusting the price accordingly. These people can and are willing to buy gems but the non-adjusted US-based pricing is "expensive" for them.

Lastly, stop that "exchange gold for gems" or "farm gold" excuse. Not everyone is like you who have time to farm gold. If some people wants to spend real-money for whatever reason, that is their choice. It's their money. Problem is, even though they want to spend it so ArenaNet can pay their employees, they are not because the current gem price is "expensive" for them.

Put yourselves in the shoes of others and you will understand how the world works.

Wow.  You just don't get it. 

Never said that Gems should not be adjusted; just that they should be adjusted to income, no matter what country a person lives in.  In every country, including the US, there are poor people...even by your standards!

 

It wasn't my logic, but yours, or whoever I quoted.  Regardless, I'll not argue about it.  There are none so blind as those that will not see.

[Svarty.8019]

I am a bit on the fence with this one.

 

2000 gems seems rather a lot, but in sales, 1200 seems much more reasonable. 

 

I'm confused about the random element mount packs - clearly people get them as a cheaper route to possibly get what they want, but there's a huge chance of frustration.

 

If I didn't know better, I'd think that many of the gem store items are an attempt to lure unwitting victims into the habit of addictive problem gambling. 

 

When the fun stops stop.

[Gehenna.3625]

1 hour ago, Svarty.8019 said:

I am a bit on the fence with this one.

 

2000 gems seems rather a lot, but in sales, 1200 seems much more reasonable. 

There are very few mounts that cost 2000 gems though. A lot of them are either 1600 or 1200 and you can buy packs where you can get 5 mounts for 2000 gems and you get those 5 exactly.

1 hour ago, Svarty.8019 said:

I'm confused about the random element mount packs - clearly people get them as a cheaper route to possibly get what they want, but there's a huge chance of frustration.

The random way is cheaper per mount but not if you need a specific mount and don't care about the rest. 

1 hour ago, Svarty.8019 said:

If I didn't know better, I'd think that many of the gem store items are an attempt to lure unwitting victims into the habit of addictive problem gambling. 

That would be the black lion chests keys, but not the mounts. In case of the random ones, you will not get doubles, so if you unlock a mount skin, it will unlock a new one out of that set that you don't already have. So if there's 10 in a set you'll need exactly 4000 gems to unlock them all. If you only want one or two then you can buy the 1200 gems version twice and then you can pick specific ones and spend less. It's not ideal but it's not horrible either.

[Blude.6812]

No they are not!!

 

[Obtena.7952]

On 9/16/2021 at 7:12 AM, kharmin.7683 said:

It's a good thing that mount skins aren't needed to play the game or complete content.

It's also a good thing that anything in the GS can be bought with ingame currency. 👍

[Pacificterror.7805]

On 9/19/2021 at 4:27 PM, Shael.4703 said:

If you can't afford to live in the US because you are "poor" there, then live in countries where your "US poor" are "rich".

That's kind of silly to think about....I guess the logic works if you're living off funds you already have and don't work, since the money you already have goes further in some nations than it does in others.

In the circumstance of a working person, though, a poorly paying job is most likely going to pay just as poorly in another country - the only difference being you possibly living in a country with poorer conditions and social welfare in general.

Come to think of it, I can think of at least 1 country where even high profile jobs earn poorly - Venezuela. People go from respected professions like accountants etc to full time gold farmers and account trainers in online games because it earns them a lot more LOL.

[PeterRedhill.3182]

On 8/19/2020 at 3:57 PM, kharmin.7683 said:

1600 gems is $20USD That's less than going to a movie. Sorry if you can't afford it, but the cost is quite reasonable especially for a F2P game.

Fanboys man I swear...

Edited September 21, 2021 by PMoneyMobileRobot.4630

[Klowdy.3126]

On 9/19/2021 at 12:39 PM, Amnariel.3659 said:

It's expensive because 5 mounts are locked behind achievement locks from which 2 takes from weeks to months to complete.

So from all mounts:

Raptor,Springer,Skimmer - Free and story unlock

Roller beetle;Jackal,Warclaw(WvW) - Not much work to get in matter of days maybe a week in worst case.

Griffon and Skyscale - Hard and expensive to get.

 

You can check it here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mount

 

There are quite a lot of skins for the 3 free mounts,some I bought even myself.

Feel free to check and calculate the amount of skins here : https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gallery_of_mount_skins

Let's say you are a casual player with family,life,etc so you don't waste time getting the Skyscale,Griffon maybe the Beetle or hate pvp so no warclaw  then you are left with around 4 mounts.

If we calculate maybe 2 skins/mount which you like,let's assume you like all your mounts:Raptor,Skimmer,Springer,Jackal and you got 8 skins then you are done and won't spend a single dime anymore maybe in a future a new skin you like but at this price it must be something good.

To be honest I would have spent money on some Skyscale skins and Griffon too but since I not got them it won't happen and from here we go to the high prices.

As more players are casual than hardcore many don't have not even the Beetle or Jackal mounts so why bother buying licenses or skins ?

Licenses can drop skin for mounts you don't own and why buy skin for something you don't own?

Now Anet have to make money so they increase the price overall for all to compensate the loss.

It's my opinion and I can be wrong but if Anet keeps limiting themselves like this just to make a few elite happy the prices will keep like this and other things too.

Other games solved this issue that maked locked contet easier or player is able to approach from more ways.

Many of casuals are willing to pay as far as I talked within guild and with others in events but it's totally up to Anet how they continue with the next update for example.

If they make Turtle and Skiffs like Skyscale not many will farm it and ofc less people buy skins for them.

As I said just my opinion on why the price is this high,no offense

 

 

I just started looking into the war claw mount. I haven't done much PvP before a few weeks ago, and I'm looking to get into WvW now, but I didn't want to be without a war claw for too long. Good to know it's fairly easy. Also much closer to the scyscale than I thought, lol.

[kharmin.7683]

4 hours ago, PMoneyMobileRobot.4630 said:

Fanboys man I swear...

So, how much do you think it should cost?

[Klowdy.3126]

On 9/19/2021 at 11:30 PM, Shael.4703 said:

You fail to understand what is the issue is.

Let's use your logic: "if you are too poor to afford Gems in your country, then you need to get a job or start a business".

That logic is assuming that the price of the gems has been adjusted accordingly in each country. But did you know that the price of the gems is the same everywhere?

People who HAVE a job and maybe even a business in Country X, as per your logic, is no longer poor in that country but they are poor in the US standards (cost of living, salary rate, exchange rate). So, even if they have a good purchasing power in their Country, they do not have that purchasing power for a product priced under US standards/rates.

If at this point you US people still can not understand that, then you need to leave your money and migrate in countries not like the US and the EU. Experience it for yourself firsthand the huge gap between the US and EU and the rest of the world.

It is a faulty logic and a very skewed notion of rich and poor to assume that all poor in every country are equal and the same. Your US poor are rich in Country X. Those with purchasing power in Country X are either equal to or below poor in US standards.

Everybody wants ArenaNet to earn more? Give people with purchasing power in their local country the same level of purchasing power for gems by adjusting the price accordingly. These people can and are willing to buy gems but the non-adjusted US-based pricing is "expensive" for them.

Lastly, stop that "exchange gold for gems" or "farm gold" excuse. Not everyone is like you who have time to farm gold. If some people wants to spend real-money for whatever reason, that is their choice. It's their money. Problem is, even though they want to spend it so ArenaNet can pay their employees, they are not because the current gem price is "expensive" for them.

Put yourselves in the shoes of others and you will understand how the world works.

This is an overly-extreme reaction to buying currency for cosmetic items in a game. 

[Dante.1508]

2 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

So, how much do you think it should cost?

650 - 900 Gems

[Mentor.4130]

For me most expensive mounts were unlucky 400 gems adopt licences when mounts were introduced. Got mostly springer skins and few plain for other mounts that I hardly used. Better spend 1200 gems for a wanted skin.

[kharmin.7683]

Lower cost does not always equate to more sales or profit.  The disillusionment in marketing in this thread is... unsurprising.

[PeterRedhill.3182]

15 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Lower cost does not always equate to more sales or profit.  The disillusionment in marketing in this thread is... unsurprising.

I'm not saying make it free, but if you want people to buy something you have to kinda meet them in the middle with what it is and what they are willing to pay for it.  It's not some solid gold toilet or anything like that.  It's a skin and regardless of how many hours it took to make if the consumer thinks it's only worth x you're never gonna sell it for y.  You just aren't going to.  Don't get me wrong you still have the shills who will well shill out for a solid gold toilet, but the majority of people are fine with porcelain.  It's cheaper and you can still use it for the same function.

 

I've personally never bought a mount skin, but if I was going to it would be the cheaper gamble option which for me isn't ideal because I hate gambling, but I'm not going to pay a lot for something that should be ernable in game.  I get it's free to play or buy to play they gotta make money somehow.  I'd just rather they were ernable in game.

Edited September 21, 2021 by PMoneyMobileRobot.4630

[genjonah.1253]

Artists have to come up with the concept art. Designers have to render it. Programmers have to make it workable with current code. Sometimes, new animations are required there, too (see hummingbird skin for skimmer). 
 

hundreds of hours of work. Not counting the initial development of the game, the mount systems, continuing servers, bug fixes, etc. All on a game that costs you nothing to play if you don’t want to.

 

pay the cost of gems for skins if you want them. Or don’t get them. It really is that simple, stop demanding things from artists and workers for even less money than they’re already giving out their talent for, please. These are not even QoL enhancements, purely aesthetic, that they never had to make in the first place.