Name change cost

[branwen.1049]

On 7/3/2021 at 5:30 AM, Arnox.5128 said:

While we're talking about gemstore prices, can we please talk about lowering the price for the kitten level 80 booster? It costs $35, like holy kitten. And yeah, I know it outfits the character as well with fully equipped and class relevant exotic armor, but c'mon... >_>

Better than WoW's 60$ max boosts.... I'll take half the cost any day 😬

I can't really say much on the cost of things though, considering I've made questionable financial decisions in the past -- if a new mount skin comes out and I like it, I instantly buy it (or I used to, back when I was playing far more consistently).

 

I do agree that something like a name change should probably cost less.

[Arnox.5128]

54 minutes ago, Giovanelli.6071 said:

Better than WoW's 60$ max boosts.... I'll take half the cost any day 😬

 

Yeah, but just because something is better doesn't mean it's good. GW2 should strive to be the best it can be in every facet that is applicable, not just good enough.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

Allow me to express my oppinion by highlighting an important factor.

I'm not sure if it's basic dev company policy to apply a sort of "One size fits all" when it comes to store prices; so it's equal for everyone.

However, wages vary from country to country, and what may seem cheap for people in US, for instance, ($10) May seem like a lot of money in countries where the economy is nowhere near as great, and it becomes very expensive.

Of course that you can get as much ingame gold as anybody else, but then, not everyone can play the same amount of hours.

 

If you live in a country where you earn half the wages and have to work nearly twice as many hours; in theory you have the same ingame privileges; but in practice you are never able to achieve that.

 

Would it be possible for ANet financial team to apply different prices for different countries, according to their economy?

Perhaps that may not seem fair, but hence why some people find name changes expensive, among other things.

[kharmin.7683]

2 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

Allow me to express my oppinion by highlighting an important factor.

I'm not sure if it's basic dev company policy to apply a sort of "One size fits all" when it comes to store prices; so it's equal for everyone.

However, wages vary from country to country, and what may seem cheap for people in US, for instance, ($10) May seem like a lot of money in countries where the economy is nowhere near as great, and it becomes very expensive.

Of course that you can get as much ingame gold as anybody else, but then, not everyone can play the same amount of hours.

 

If you live in a country where you earn half the wages and have to work nearly twice as many hours; in theory you have the same ingame privileges; but in practice you are never able to achieve that.

 

Would it be possible for ANet financial team to apply different prices for different countries, according to their economy?

Perhaps that may not seem fair, but hence why some people find name changes expensive, among other things.

So, then, people find out which countries are "cheaper" and use a VPN to connect to that country to make their purchases?  I'm sure that would help ANet's bottom line.

[hash.8462]

On 7/1/2021 at 8:00 PM, Zephire.8049 said:

..pick a serious name rather than one that's reportable.

Sometimes this can be the right trick, if you want to change the name of one of your characters that has a vaguely reportable name, just ask other players to report it as "Inappropriate Character Name", if you are lucky you can get a forced name change for free 🙂

[IndigoSundown.5419]

So, you want a name that you don't have.  If you buy a character slot, you need to Tome-Up (or level up) the character, and gear them.  You have only starter waypoints.  If you change names, you already have all of that (at least to some extent).  You're paying for the convenience of not having to do those things to ramp the character up to usable status.  The more you've unlocked on a character, the more convenient the name change is.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

On 7/5/2021 at 1:22 PM, kharmin.7683 said:

So, then, people find out which countries are "cheaper" and use a VPN to connect to that country to make their purchases?  I'm sure that would help ANet's bottom line.

Thanks for reminding of that little detail.

Changing ip to a different country would give you access to cheaper prices.

But I'm sure our devs could find a way around that?

Because, if you think about it, people in countries with much less wages, perhaps would be more motivated into buying more items from the gem store.

I know I would.

I cannot even afford a new computer at the moment, let alone gem store items.

But I intent to buy a lot more from it.

I have at least close to 40 character ideas I want to make a reality.

I have only human characters at the moment, and I want yo have at least 10 characters of each of other races.

I even have them drawn on paper, how they look like and their names.

But because of prices, instead of making that a reality in just a few weeks, it might take many months or maybe years.

Until now and then... 

 

[SoulGuardian.6203]

On 7/5/2021 at 8:48 PM, IndigoSundown.5419 said:

So, you want a name that you don't have.  If you buy a character slot, you need to Tome-Up (or level up) the character, and gear them.  You have only starter waypoints.  If you change names, you already have all of that (at least to some extent).  You're paying for the convenience of not having to do those things to ramp the character up to usable status.  The more you've unlocked on a character, the more convenient the name change is.

Right.

Do you know how many times I have felt hurt... at least emotionally for having to delete characters because I could not afford a name change!?

... thinking, wow, I really like this character,  but I had a change of heart over its name.

Then, the most painful bit it's not even when I delete it.

It's precisely what you said about having to level that bugger up again to 80 and having to farm for its exotic gear.

Having to initiate PoF or alternatively teleport to kourna and backtrack all the way to get 10 hero points in order to unlock its elite specs.

It's a world of hurt. Emotional and mental Pain.

One that we could easily avoid, just by making name changes cheaper.

[Excursion.9752]

On 7/3/2021 at 6:30 AM, Arnox.5128 said:

While we're talking about gemstore prices, can we please talk about lowering the price for the kitten level 80 booster? It costs $35, like holy kitten. And yeah, I know it outfits the character as well with fully equipped and class relevant exotic armor, but c'mon... >_>

I wish I could gift my Tomes of Knowledge to people.  I have enough for 82 characters...

[Gibson.4036]

18 hours ago, SoulGuardian.6203 said:

 

It's precisely what you said about having to level that bugger up again to 80 and having to farm for its exotic gear.

Having to initiate PoF or alternatively teleport to kourna and backtrack all the way to get 10 hero points in order to unlock its elite specs.

It's a world of hurt. Emotional and mental Pain.

One that we could easily avoid, just by making name changes cheaper.

Level up to 80? How long have you been playing? This game throws level up items at you with reckless abandon.

Farm for exotic gear? Have you tried crafting? Or looking for tradeable exotics?

Elite specs? I used to run PoF on new characters. Recently, though, it seems there's an HP train through HoT most nights. Check LFG and you'll sail through, as well as unlocking a bunch of waypoints along the way.

I'll admit, farming LS3 for the trinkets on a new character can get a little old, but if you're not creating new characters left and right it's not bad.

[Gibson.4036]

17 hours ago, Excursion.9752 said:

I wish I could gift my Tomes of Knowledge to people.  I have enough for 82 characters...

And experience scrolls.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

19 hours ago, Gibson.4036 said:

Level up to 80?

Indeed, that's the one.

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How long have you been playing?

Relevance?

This does not reinforce whatever point you're trying to make.

But if you must know, a few years.

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This game throws level up items at you with reckless abandon.

- False statement.

I strongly disagree.

There are many ways of getting them yes. But it's very time consuming.

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Farm for exotic gear?

- Again, that's what I typed.

Was it not!?

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.Have you tried crafting?

What do you think!?

Yes. But again. Time consuming.

Considering it takes time to farm for materials, or buy them, which requires gold, which you need to farm for too.

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Or looking for tradeable exotics?

I'm just going to ignore this.

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Elite specs?

- You like to question every statement; as a way to try to convey that my statements are ridiculous or nonsense, but then don't offer a plausible explanation as to why you are questioning me.

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I used to run PoF on new characters.

- Weldone you. You're playing GW2.

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Recently, though, it seems there's an HP train through HoT most nights.

- In all my 30+ times of leveling characters up, and going for HPs.

I only saw trains in HoT twice, which I cannot follow anyways due to lag and not being able to keep up... having to ask for help everytime for each individual HP; and once in PoF, in which after only two HPs they disbanded. The two easier ones anyways, so didn't really need it.

Quote

Check LFG and you'll sail through, as well as unlocking a bunch of waypoints along the way.

I'll admit, farming LS3 for the trinkets on a new character can get a little old, but if you're not creating new characters left and right it's not bad.

Overall, not to go into much details, because...

● Internet

● Who cares?

I cannot afford a decent computer.

Heck, I can hardly afford to fix my broken one. Therefore, I cannot be in large maps with more than a 20 large crowd.

I cannot do trains, and that's why I can't do wvw, and or world bosses.

My options to get tomes of knowledge, etc... are very limited to birthday tomes, and swapping them for laurels,  which are scarce.

I have to roam solo around maps to level up, racing around and getting xp out of map revealing, HPs, WPs, Vistas, and Teleport nodes.

Therefore, it takes me about 2-3 days aprox to level up a character, considering I play over 8-10 hours a day and using all the xp boosts available to me.

Then another whole day to farm for gold to buy exotic gear from TP.

Then a further day or two to get all the HPs in PoF and HoTs areas.

When you done that over 30 times... does that sound fun to you?

Hope that clears it out for you.

Edited September 11, 2021 by SoulGuardian.6203
Grammar

[Gibson.4036]

My apologies for offending. Your experience of this game is so vastly different from mine that I’d say we’re playing totally different games.

I play about 4-6 hours a week, and my bank is overflowing tomes, scrolls, and whatever those little xp things are.

My questions were not trying to win an argument, but real incredulity.

Crafted exotics are not terribly expensive. I don’t farm gold ever, but I do the daily on days I log in and fuse quartz. That’s pretty much the extent of my farming.

I don’t know why you dismissed traceable exotics. Depending on the stats you’re looking for, there are named sets that aren’t hugely expensive.

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[SoulGuardian.6203]

1 hour ago, Gibson.4036 said:

My apologies for offending. Your experience of this game is so vastly different from mine that I’d say we’re playing totally different games.

 

But Indeed. A good machine does all the difference. 👍

Edited September 11, 2021 by SoulGuardian.6203

[SoulGuardian.6203]

1 hour ago, Gibson.4036 said:

 

I play about 4-6 hours a week, and my bank is overflowing tomes, scrolls, and whatever those little xp things are.

I don't see how that's possible in just 4-6 hours a week, unless you play wvw, but even then, you'd have to be lucky to get a full map, and have a good machine not to lag, which I already said I don't have.

If you know where to get them that easy, please share.

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My questions were not trying to win an argument, but real incredulity.

As soon as you disagree with someone, you are trying to win an argument.

It's simple math.

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Crafted exotics are not terribly expensive.

Depends on the stats.

If you want decent weapon and gear it will get expencive.

Quote

 

I don’t farm gold ever, but I do the daily on days I log in and fuse quartz. That’s pretty much the extent of my farming.

If you don't farm for gold, how can you afford to buy anything, unless you exchange gems for gold or get gifts from other players?

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I don’t know why you dismissed traceable exotics. Depending on the stats you’re looking for, there are named sets that aren’t hugely expensive.

 

I don't know what you mean by traceable. 

The only other way I get decent exotics is by exchanging for karma with Orr merchants or the occasional dungeon currency.

But that too takes time farning.

 

Edited September 11, 2021 by SoulGuardian.6203

[Gibson.4036]

Sorry, typo. Tradeable. Autocorrect doesn’t like that word.
Only some stats have those, so YMMV.

And I don’t agree about trying to win an argument. Sometimes people can share different viewpoints without being invested in whether the other person changes their mind.

As far as how I afford things… daily completionist for 2 gold, selling crafted items made with charged quartz, that comes to about 4 gold per login. The rest is just from rewards from whatever I’m playing. Selling mats I don’t need.

Edited September 11, 2021 by Gibson.4036

[SoulGuardian.6203]

12 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

 

As far as how I afford things… daily completionist for 2 gold

Gold farming.

12 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

selling crafted items made with charged quartz,

That's still farming.

 

12 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

 

The rest is just from rewards from whatever I’m playing.

Farming...

12 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

 

Selling mats I don’t need.

Gathering materials for gold... farming.

 

The only time you're not really farming in an RPG is when you're idle or doing story mode.

Other than that you're always farming for something.

[Gibson.4036]

Wow, okay. So, yeah. I guess I do a twenty minute farm when I log in.

If the only thing you want to do is story, this game isn’t going to last you long.

[Gibson.4036]

I went and did some research because I honestly don’t know why my bank is overflowing level up items.

Turns outcomes of knowledge are from daily log in rewards. So, just logging in eventually stacks those.

Writs of experience are from daily chests, so minimal farm there, depending on what you normally do.

If all you are doing is story, that levels you up pretty quickly, and exotics aren’t really useful until story starts giving them to you in HoT.

But I realize I’ve derailed things from the cost of name changes. Honestly, I find almost everything in the gem store overpriced. While I do make enough gold to get things I think are needed (like crafting exotic armor and ascended weapons) I definitely don’t make enough to convert to gems on any sort of regular basis.

[SoulGuardian.6203]

35 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

I went and did some research because I honestly don’t know why my bank is overflowing level up items.

Turns outcomes of knowledge are from daily log in rewards. So, just logging in eventually stacks those.

But that's because you're not using them.

If you create new characters often like I do, you wouldn't have any.

Let me ask you how many characters you have?

35 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

Writs of experience are from daily chests, so minimal farm there, depending on what you normally do.

Not daily. As far as I remember, you get one a week. If my memory doesn't betray me.

35 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

 

But I realize I’ve derailed things from the cost of name changes.

Yes you did. But the topic hasn't strayed far.

It's all related in terms of farming to get gold to exchange foe gems, in order to get a name change... which a lot of people agree it's expencive, and so rather restart a character, which will have to do the whole thing again... and we went full circle.

35 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

 

Honestly, I find almost everything in the gem store overpriced. While I do make enough gold to get things I think are needed (like crafting exotic armor and ascended weapons) I definitely don’t make enough to convert to gems on any sort of regular basis.

Well. I agree to a certain extent.

I wouldn't say everything. But then it's just a matter of oppinion now.

Some people don't mind paying obscene amounts of money for skins; just because they can. So that means those who can't shouldn't have it.

But name changes are in a gray area between useful and luxury item... for lack of a better word.

In my oppinion it shouldn't be that pricey.

As I said before. I have spent real money just for that purpose, several times; but it got to a point when I asked myself what on earth was I doing!?

So a dilema presents itself everytime.

Spend hard earned gold to buy a name change, or delete and restart again?

Just gotta take my time and think carefully of a name next time I start a new character... which not always goes according to plan.