ANet blatant money grabbing?

[Deleted]

In the latest pre-patch a new system for buying gems with gold has been introduced. You can no longer buy less than 400 gems via gold conversion.

From the top Reddit comment: "A player who doesn't have a lot of time, but has a lot of money (they have a job) buys gems. They buy 800 gems and purchase a 500 gem item. They have 300 gems left over. Then, they decide they want to purchase a 400 gem item, but they need 100 more gems. On the new system they cannot only convert gold into 100 gems, they need to convert at least 400 gems worth of gold. But they don't have that much gold, and because they don't have a lot of time to play, they can't farm it (and 400 gems isn't cheap, it's over 75 gold right now). Thus, this person must spend more real money on actual gems, at a minimum of $10 for 800 gems, even though they only wanted 100 gems."

Basically ANet wants more of your money and there is nothing you can do about it. Thoughts?

[Mifuyne]

Oh look, it's a game without a subscription model.

[Valeron]

we have been discussing it here

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...t-of-No-Return

[Fencers]

Seems slightly concerning. Though I admit to not having a lot of interest in the GW2 cash shop. So I may not be looking at this issue as critically or deeply as I should.

Though a major gameplay shift due to the cash shop would likely force me to look at the GW2 shop more closely.

[Jademist]

Most of the Gem Store things are optional anyways. It's up to the players discretion to buy or not buy from the Gem store. If you want it badly, then maybe you'll wait it out to farm more in-game gold. OR you can use actual money. It isn't mandatory to give ANet any of your cash really. It's all optional.

So no, I don't think ANet is blatantly money grabbing as these are optional services that the player can choose whether or not to purchase with either time (by investing more time in farming to get more gold) or using real-life money (again, optional).

And remember, ANet is a business. They still need to make a profit. Who is going to pay their Guild Wars 2 developers and artists and everyone else? A fairy?


You should try SW:TOR and tell me that isn't more blatant money grabbing by labelling a game Free-to-Play but you cannot sprint 'til level 10, you are limited to how many things you can do, you can't even equip all of the best gear in the game, and you are limited to three freaking races and two character slots for "Free-to-Play". For you to enjoy anything, you need to buy Cartel Coins which, AFAIK, you only have to pay RL money to obtain.

[Fernling306]

It might be optional, but almost all weapon, outfits and armor skins are released through it. With a game that claims it's endgame is all about cosmetics these changes don't bode well.

[Mazaxist]

As long as people keep buying those gems, they will continue doing this. I actually prefer monthly sub instead.

[lawow74]

Pretty shitty change, IMO. I can understand keeping gem exchanges to some more even numbers, but requiring a minimum 400 buy-in? Pff. That's a serious dick move on their parts.

[endersblade]

Most of the Gem Store things are optional anyways. It's up to the players discretion to buy or not buy from the Gem store. If you want it badly, then maybe you'll wait it out to farm more in-game gold. OR you can use actual money. It isn't mandatory to give ANet any of your cash really. It's all optional.

So no, I don't think ANet is blatantly money grabbing as these are optional services that the player can choose whether or not to purchase with either time (by investing more time in farming to get more gold) or using real-life money (again, optional).

And remember, ANet is a business. They still need to make a profit. Who is going to pay their Guild Wars 2 developers and artists and everyone else? A fairy?


You should try SW:TOR and tell me that isn't more blatant money grabbing by labelling a game Free-to-Play but you cannot sprint 'til level 10, you are limited to how many things you can do, you can't even equip all of the best gear in the game, and you are limited to three freaking races and two character slots for "Free-to-Play". For you to enjoy anything, you need to buy Cartel Coins which, AFAIK, you only have to pay RL money to obtain.

And as long as we have nay-sayers and people willing to turn a blind eye to it like you, we will continue to have companies doing the cash grab-n-go like this.

[Fencers]

The comparison to SWTOR and other F2P games is faulty. Guild Wars 2 is a B2P game.

The cash shop of GW2 is a DLC delivery method. When you buy the super cool trenchcoat in the cash shop, you are buying a piece of DLC.

[Jademist]

And as long as we have nay-sayers and people willing to turn a blind eye to it like you, we will continue to have companies doing the cash grab-n-go like this.

My point is that you can still fully enjoy the game they provided as free-to-play without ever spending a dime on the gem store.

It is just my opinion that optional services that do not impact gameplay whatsoever don't count as "blatant money-grabbing". And again, ANet is a business that needs to make a profit.

Look, you don't need to agree with me and my opinion is not going to change the world as I am but a player of the game. The OP expressed his opinion; I expressed mine in the matter. No need to get snarky. There is more than one perspective to this issue. I am not willingly 'turning a blind eye' because to me, this is not an issue. If an issue arises that impacts the core game itself where buying gem store items directly impacts my game performance other than cosmetic changes, then yes, I will be more vocal for change.

- - - Updated - - -

The comparison to SWTOR and other F2P games is faulty. Guild Wars 2 is a B2P game.

The cash shop of GW2 is a DLC delivery method. When you buy the super cool trenchcoat in the cash shop, you are buying a piece of DLC.

Thanks for the clarification. That actually makes more sense.

[Fernling306]

I actually prefer monthly sub instead.

I couldn't agree more.

[Fencers]

Something else I think worth noting before anyone begins dragging other games into the discussion as thinly veiled "game v. game" babbling; very few games offer necessary DLC or cash shop purchases. It is mostly a player driven, subjective, value judgement based on preformed expectations.

Hopefully, SWTOR isn't too heated a talking point so I will use it as a quick example here; being able to sprint is nice. Really nice. Though it is not required in any way to play the content offered in SWTOR freely. Whether one feels sprinting makes things a lot more awesome is up to them. So too for the newest baby tiger shark mount in Rift's cash shop, the chainmail bikinis of Vindictus or the golden pickaxe of whogivesashit in Guild Wars 2.

The point is that personal value judgements of worth can not be applied universally. And it is misleading and wrong in many cases to assert buying non-gameplay affecting virtual items is necessary to play "properly". Or whatever pet definition Johnny Forum-Goer has in his backpocket of what passed as Pay-2-Something.

[rhandric]

As long as people keep buying those gems, they will continue doing this. I actually prefer monthly sub instead.

You mean monthly sub with much more money-grubbing cash shop?

[LilSaihah]

You should try SW:TOR and tell me that isn't more blatant money grabbing by labelling a game Free-to-Play but you cannot sprint 'til level 10, you are limited to how many things you can do, you can't even equip all of the best gear in the game, and you are limited to three freaking races and two character slots for "Free-to-Play". For you to enjoy anything, you need to buy Cartel Coins which, AFAIK, you only have to pay RL money to obtain.

SWTOR set the rules at the start of their F2P program and has progressively been removing restrictions and advancing their systems to improve the play experience.
GW2 has been progressively adding restrictions and devolving their systems for no apparent reason.

Sure, maybe SWTOR set the bar low to begin with, but they're not breaking their own systems.

[Deleted]

If there was an option for 100 or 200 gems, I'd probably be okay with it. But 400 is just way too many at once. I don't use the gemstore too often but I did put aside like 10-20 gold a week to buy gems. Now I have to wait much longer to be able to do that. I guess it'll be once a month now. But I'm shit at keeping my money from spending ^^; So I'm not sure if it's going well.

BUT on the other side, don't most games have the same thing? I remember being surprised you could even trade in just 1 gold for gems. I already assumed it would be the method it is now.

Meh I hope they at least add a 100 gems option, it would be much better for most people.

[1001]

SWTOR set the rules at the start of their F2P program and has progressively been removing restrictions and advancing their systems to improve the play experience.
GW2 has been progressively adding restrictions and devolving their systems for no apparent reason.

Sure, maybe SWTOR set the bar low to begin with, but they're not breaking their own systems.

Am I right in thinking that most of the things in the SW:TOR cash shop can be bought and sold on the auction house? I don't believe you can do that to the same degree in GW2.

[LilSaihah]

Am I right in thinking that most of the things in the SW:TOR cash shop can be bought and sold on the auction house? I don't believe you can do that to the same degree in GW2.

Most of the items from the cash shop can be sold to other players, yes. There are a few items which can't; you can't unlock items in Collections and you can't use char recustomisation, but most everything else is fair game.

[Fencers]

Am I right in thinking that most of the things in the SW:TOR cash shop can be bought and sold on the auction house? I don't believe you can do that to the same degree in GW2.

Almost every thing in the SWTOR cash shop can be traded on the AH.

It's a pretty fantastic system.

Edit: Oops, I didn't see the other person reply.

[Arlee]

It might be optional, but almost all weapon, outfits and armor skins are released through it. With a game that claims it's endgame is all about cosmetics these changes don't bode well.

That's a gross exaggeration on the weapons part. Slightly exaggerated on the armor part.