Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Svifnymr]

So, random mount skins. Not sure.
400 gems isn't bad, I bought one, got a nice jackal skin. I don't think any of them are really "bad". Also very nice that they have 4 dye channels.

[barackopala]

Nope, at this point fuck arenanet, this expansion was disappointing just like the last one (in different ways) but this shit broke the cammel back, underwhelming classes, STILL no pve/pvp skill separation for balance purposes, nerfing GotL on druid and not spotter (dense developers), a good chunk of glitches on their CM100 fractal, the cracks are showing a bit too much.

They could've released this shit as different priced mounts and at least give some of them as a legendary unlock or just throw a bone to people who want to do PoF meta's for fuck sake, it sucks badly, this expansion needs content and they gut it and place it as RNG lootboxes, fuck them.

$103 for all RNG mount skins, $123 if we add the 2000gems one, GOOD JOB ANET.

[Eleccybubb]

Nope, at this point fuck arenanet, this expansion was disappointing just like the last one (in different ways) but this shit broke the cammel back, underwhelming classes, STILL no pve/pvp skill separation for balance purposes, nerfing GotL on druid and not spotter (dense developers), a good chunk of glitches on their CM100 fractal, the cracks are showing a bit too much.

They could've released this shit as different priced mounts and at least give some of them as a legendary unlock or just throw a bone to people who want to do PoF meta's for fuck sake, it sucks badly, this expansion needs content and they gut it and place it as RNG lootboxes, fuck them.

$103 for all RNG mount skins, $123 if we add the 2000gems one, GOOD JOB ANET.

So basically we have mount skin lockboxes, dye lockboxes and Black Lion lootboxes.

I mean sure it's cosmetic and all I guess but 123 dollars for the skins is a bit excessive. I imagine those who praise GW2 like it's the greatest gift to mankind are going to jump out to defend this.

My friends were talking to me about this yesterday and I can't blame them for quitting now. They mentioned lack of content as well as this and I'm quite glad I didn't reinstall it with what's coming on the horizon.

[PACOX]

The RNG boxes are a guarantee that I'll never buy them. Making the boxes RNG based is a just a way to milk a few extra gems out of people hunting for specific mounts. The people will get their skin but statistically is means buying more gems fighting RNG compared to just buying the skins.

Now I will say this, the skins are nice and they system is still cheaper than most MMOs (ie WoW its $25 for a mount skin, $15 for a helm, $10 for a mini...) but shame bad unfavorable business, imo, nonetheless.

[Gray_Matter]

I'm not a skin person so maybe I am missing something (I still only have the starter glider skin ). 100 gold / 400 gems is the price for the same price as the glider skins. The RNG part is a bit dumb, more than anything else. I don't think the skins are anything to write home about other than the fire one. Maybe that's their angle. They think people will want the fire one so they put it behind RNG to get people to buy more. If I compare the glider skins to the mount skins it almost feels like they are trying to make a quick buck. The glider skins have a lot more work so if I was going to spend money on skins it would be those and not the mount skins.

I did test out the mount skin thing and got a Griffin skin despite not having the Griffin unlocked which is pretty dumb.

For me it's another gem store item that I will hardly glance twice at. My focus has always been unbreakable tools, bag slots, etc. Things that are permanent and useful.

Edit: Changing my tune a bit. Looking at the responses from other people, it's a bit of a sh..ty move from A/Net. Doesn't effect me but still not nice.

[Lotus Victoria]

I'm pissed off against the lootboxes as well. I already hate Black Lion Chests and their stupid loot, but at least you can get keys by completings maps, but this?

Fuck off, ANET.

[barackopala]

I'm pissed off against the lootboxes as well. I already hate Black Lion Chests and their stupid loot, but at least you can get keys by completings maps, but this?

Fuck off, ANET.

What pisses me off more than the RNG status of this is a discussion we had before on the expansion feel, it was lacking not only in content but in PURPOSE, yes the gryphon mount was there and people had a purpose to complete the maps, but the basic shitty skins could've been used as rewards for PoF content, anet fucked it up, and their balance changes were another big factor for me to despise its decision.

"LETS NERF GOTL BUT NOT SPOTTER CUZ HURR DURR DONT BRING DRUIDS TO RAIDS" whilst doing nothing about CPS-Chrono requirements for pve meta

[PACOX]

"LETS NERF GOTL BUT NOT SPOTTER CUZ HURR DURR DONT BRING DRUIDS TO RAIDS" whilst doing nothing about CPS-Chrono requirements for pve meta

To be fair, PS was nerfed, other might shares were buffed. Non-tanks are only needed for alacrity now, Renegade alacrity was buffed. Now was Renegade alacrity buffed enough is the question.

GOTL is OP. Whats going to happen with buffs like GOTL, EA, Spotter whatever the Rev damage buff is called, is that they are going to make them the same so that one class isn't viewed as "mandatory' because of a unique buff. The meta needs to be broken up. CPS is the laziest shit in the world, espically when you come up with other comps to get 25 stacks of might. If you every raided as a Chrono you know how annoying that shit is, also off-Chrono (the none tank chrono)feels exactly what its brought for...to be a buff bot and nothing more. Mirage does good dps but you won't see many in groups that can't think past the meta because "bitch, why aint you playing a chrono?!?". No other heal specs will ever been considered (and I know at least vent rev and firebrand can heal) will ever been considered as long as GoTL is a thing.

[Svifnymr]

So basically we have mount skin lockboxes, dye lockboxes and Black Lion lootboxes.

I do like the Wardrobe unlock thing, though you don't buy it directly.

I mean sure it's cosmetic and all I guess but 123 dollars for the skins is a bit excessive. I imagine those who praise GW2 like it's the greatest gift to mankind are going to jump out to defend this.

I don't think most folks would buy the all-skin option, though it's presence is just a bit... ugh. What I do wish is that they had compartmentalized them more. I'd buy a couple more jackal boxes, but I don't want another Skimmer skin. If Skimmer skins were in a different box, much better. The random nature of it isn't bad only because there's only a few of them and none of them are really super-duper-exciting.

I don't see much discussion about the 2k gem mount though, which is single purchase.

My friends were talking to me about this yesterday and I can't blame them for quitting now. They mentioned lack of content as well as this and I'm quite glad I didn't reinstall it with what's coming on the horizon.

There's plenty of content that people just aren't doing. Rewards suck for the effort in most of the later zones. This patch supposedly balanced some of it, but not sure. It was the same way with HoT, everyone remembers is fondly now, but it was a lot of complaining until the 3month patch or whatever.

I'm not big on the PTR system, but it seems like this would be a good use of it. Someone could have told them "putting in 20 minutes for a green item isn't worth it".

- - - Updated - - -

I'm pissed off against the lootboxes as well. I already hate Black Lion Chests and their stupid loot, but at least you can get keys by completings maps, but this?

Fuck off, ANET.

Yeah, you'd think they could at least put these in BLC or as a reward for some achievement or something. Max out mastery for a mount, get a Mount Box!

But they didn't. Now we get to see what the fall out is and how it hurts the game. I don't think I've seen anyone that LIKES this system, but some like myself just don't care, rather than hate it.

[barackopala]

To be fair, PS was nerfed, other might shares were buffed. Non-tanks are only needed for alacrity now, Renegade alacrity was buffed. Now was Renegade alacrity buffed enough is the question.

GOTL is OP. Whats going to happen with buffs like GOTL, EA, Spotter whatever the Rev damage buff is called, is that they are going to make them the same so that one class isn't viewed as "mandatory' because of a unique buff. The meta needs to be broken up. CPS is the laziest shit in the world, espically when you come up with other comps to get 25 stacks of might. If you every raided as a Chrono you know how annoying that shit is, also off-Chrono (the none tank chrono)feels exactly what its brought for...to be a buff bot and nothing more. Mirage does good dps but you won't see many in groups that can't think past the meta because "bitch, why aint you playing a chrono?!?". No other heal specs will ever been considered (and I know at least vent rev and firebrand can heal) will ever been considered as long as GoTL is a thing.

PS nerf isnt that big considering you can fix it by just going on the old CondiPS Aristocracy runes, it was mostly an indirect nerf to the QT dmg focused variant.
At best for healer you might wanna bring healing tempest as its pretty much meta in fotm100 but it's really really fucking lacking compared to druid (also spotter buff and to a point spirits).

[Lotus Victoria]

Seriously, I can't express how pissed off I am with the lootbox thingy - it would be a great move from ANET to make half of these skins obtainable via in-game achievments. Path of Fire is notorious for having little to no content outside of bounties and griffon, so adding new mounts skins for us to earn in-game would be great, but greed always takes over. Maybe it was NCsoft, maybe it was ANET. It doesn't matter, the damage is done.

GW2 doesn't deserve this bad attention, and if things like this keep happening, I'm pretty sure that the game will die. As much as I love GW2, I'll jump off the boat if these stupid lootboxes keep happening in the game.

[Eleccybubb]

Seriously, I can't express how pissed off I am with the lootbox thingy - it would be a great move from ANET to make half of these skins obtainable via in-game achievments. Path of Fire is notorious for having little to no content outside of bounties and griffon, so adding new mounts skins for us to earn in-game would be great, but greed always takes over. Maybe it was NCsoft, maybe it was ANET. It doesn't matter, the damage is done.

GW2 doesn't deserve this bad attention, and if things like this keep happening, I'm pretty sure that the game will die. As much as I love GW2, I'll jump off the boat if these stupid lootboxes keep happening in the game.

Well by that logic you should have jumped off with dye kits.

Because while you know what you CAN get it's a completely random chance. Just like a lootbox.

And no it won't. Because you will have what are called "whales" willing to fork out the cash. Hell I have in lootbox games but with moderation. And if anything what has any chance of killing the game is if they pulled another HoT style intro multiple times.

If it's cosmetic I don't mind but I'd rather the system not exist overall. Now Battlefront 2 until EA supposedly "change" it is a prime example of putting power behind lootboxes. And Shadow of War basically making it less time consuming to get the true ending I'm not ok with either.

[Lotus Victoria]

Well by that logic you should have jumped off with dye kits.

Because while you know what you CAN get it's a completely random chance. Just like a lootbox.

And no it won't. Because you will have what are called "whales" willing to fork out the cash. Hell I have in lootbox games but with moderation.

If it's cosmetic I don't mind but I'd rather the system not exist overall.

Fortunately, Dye Kits and Black Lion Keys can be earned in-game, so I got no problem with that (I even complete maps with my toons to get keys and stuff).

But locking 30 skins behind a random lootbox that costs more than 100 bucks to get them all is quite different, even more if you consider how lackluster in content Path of Fire is.

[Eleccybubb]

Fortunately, Dye Kits and Black Lion Keys can be earned in-game, so I got no problem with that (I even complete maps with my toons to get keys and stuff).

But locking 30 skins behind a random lootbox that costs more than 100 bucks to get them all is quite different, even more if you consider how lackluster in content Path of Fire is.

And?

It's still a lockbox system. And Black Lion Keys ingame are sparse. You are guaranteed at least 5 from playing the story the first time and that's it last I remember. 3 from 1-80 (1 being on a weekly lockout), one from LS2 and one from LS3. Other sources are chances and some extremely rare ones at that. So the sparse sources will make you more likely to throw down the money for a key or kit.

So again by your own logic you should have jumped off when these were a thing. Because it is the exact definition of a loot/lockbox. Earning it ingame doesn't change the definition because a lot of other games let you earn them ingame too.

You can earn Overwatch and a lot of lockbox stuff ingame by playing for other games as well. Doesn't stop the chests and dye kits being a lockbox. 25 dye skins are locked behind the system in most of them.

Only nearly decent thing about the Black Lion Chest is that you are almost guaranteed a token scrip. Although a lot of the recent weapon skins are goddamn ugly.

[Svifnymr]

And?

It's still a lockbox system.

Sure, but he doesn't find them as bad. They're not "stupid lockboxes", they're just "lockboxes". :-p

And Black Lion Keys ingame are sparse. You are guaranteed at least 5 from playing the story the first time and that's it last I remember. 3 from 1-80 (1 being on a weekly lockout), one from LS2 and one from LS3. Other sources are chances and some extremely rare ones at that. So the sparse sources will make you more likely to throw down the money for a key or kit.

BLC's are very low importance for me, hardly ever something important. Couple that with the ability to purchase many of the results. If you got a random unlock mount and could resell it and maybe buy the one you want, it might not be so bad.

So again by your own logic you should have jumped off when these were a thing. Because it is the exact definition of a loot/lockbox. Earning it ingame doesn't change the definition because a lot of other games let you earn them ingame too.

Some things can be similar, but a touch too far.


Apart from that, I was clearing out some bag space. I often have skins or item boxes that I store until I might need them, and I never bothered looking at the Elonian weapon skin included with the expac, just tossed the box in the bag and forgot about it. So I didn't realize until today that it's not a unique skin, it's just the rare skin that you get a billion of as you play the content. What a useless incentive to preorder.

[Eleccybubb]

Sure, but he doesn't find them as bad. They're not "stupid lockboxes", they're just "lockboxes". :-p



BLC's are very low importance for me, hardly ever something important. Couple that with the ability to purchase many of the results. If you got a random unlock mount and could resell it and maybe buy the one you want, it might not be so bad.


Some things can be similar, but a touch too far.


Apart from that, I was clearing out some bag space. I often have skins or item boxes that I store until I might need them, and I never bothered looking at the Elonian weapon skin included with the expac, just tossed the box in the bag and forgot about it. So I didn't realize until today that it's not a unique skin, it's just the rare skin that you get a billion of as you play the content. What a useless incentive to preorder.

1. A lootbox is a lootbox. The definition doesn't change because you can earn it ingame. And dye kits are indeed just as stupid. It's an RNG chance of 25 colours with 6 low chance ones. Was hoping GW2 would be one of the few MMOs not to go down this road but now with mount skins it's becoming apparent it may.

2. Last I remember there is some nifty cosmetic stuff that can only be obtained in there.

3. Preorder incentives have been meh for a while. Heart of Thorns gave you a title. Not sure if it gave anything else since it's been like 2 years.

[Lotus Victoria]

Here is Sterling's video about the topic folks.

For those who don't know him, he's an ex-game journalist that does the Jimquisition show, and he keeps pointing out the bullshit in the industry (Lootboxes are one of them!)

[Valeron]

He is a bit misinformed about the game but whatever. The RNG part of it is what makes it awful. If you could sell the skins then that would alleviate it a little bit. Why would it be so hard to just sell each skin for 500 gems or whatever. Let people make informed choices on what they buy rather than a gambling system. The Reforged Warhound is too pricey in my opinion but at least people can see what they buy with that.

[Lotus Victoria]

He is a bit misinformed about the game but whatever. The RNG part of it is what makes it awful. If you could sell the skins then that would alleviate it a little bit. Why would it be so hard to just sell each skin for 500 gems or whatever. Let people make informed choices on what they buy rather than a gambling system. The Reforged Warhound is too pricey in my opinion but at least people can see what they buy with that.

2000 gems is insanely expensive for a single skin. You should get 5 skins for that price.
Glider skins cost 400-800 gems, so mounts should cost the same, as they're exclusive to players that bought Path of Fire.

Seriously, I don't understand the move from ANET. We're in the middle of a big lootbox controversy, why make a move like this now?

[Valeron]

It is expensive (and it isn't just a reskin) but it is also there for you to see what you are getting. I can make an informed decision about it based on the price and and what I value it as. The RNG boxes is a gambling game. I'm much less bothered by the expensive skin than I am with RNG mount loot boxes.