You can gain more karma per hour the higher you get. It makes low level karma gains insignificant. Spend, spend, spend... at least until 30. I'm not sure where the point will be that it might be worth saving, but don't save early level stuff as the benefit/cost ratio is too high to ignore.
You do reach a point, i think around level 15, when you start getting the option of buying green versions of the normally blue karma gear, which is more expensive but has better stats.
I found myself stockpiling points so that I could load up on these, since just 3-4 pieces would wipe out most of my accumulated karma points.
But then again, that's just me.
"Loading screens" are not "instances". Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
There was so much around that I never spent any karma points because I didn't figure out what all I could buy with them in time. Then the beta ended =P. (I only played BWE3)
The only things I've seen to spend them on are the armour sets (for the skins). All the gear vendors seem to have nothing better than I already do (since I'm a craftaholic), and my wife is already doing cooking. But seriously they come so fast and so often it doesn't seem like it's really worth holding them, by level 20 I had nearly 3k of them and it didn't seem like I could spit without earning Karma points.
At level 30, city karma vendors sell some pretty sweet gear of varying quality for 10s of thousands of karma points. From my personal experience, I netted about a grand total of 6-8k karma by leveling from 1-30 through pve, which wasn't even enough to purchase one piece of gear I wanted.
That said, I don't think this means conserving even more is necessarily the way to go. It seems the karma you receive at early levels simply isn't sufficient for these big purchases. These smaller amounts seem meant to be spent on small upgrades and runes as you unlock new heart quest vendors.
As you reach higher levels, you earn karma at a substantially faster rate. After level 30, it may be more prudent to save up karma for the epic gear sets. Once you get what you want, continue spending it freely at newly unlocked HQ vendors until the next level plateau is reached where new expensive karma gear sets are available.
It would be wise to spend them as you go, as it isn't prudent to do otherwise.
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed: And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!" ~Lord George Gordon Byron
There is no need to save them up for later levels. You should be earning Karma at a rate that allows you to buy important upgrades as you go with out much trouble.
I noticed that karma rates seemed a little tighter in BWE3 than in previous events, so I would say not to waste them on fluff, unless you really want to, but if you save up until level 7 and only buy armor and weapon upgrades that are worth the purchase, you'll be fine.
Karma provides a mechanism for you to chose your own rewards for doing DEs and Heart Tasks, rather than being given a lot of quest rewards you can't use. There is nothing you need to hoard Karma for in order to be able to buy them later on in the game.
Since Karma is rewarded for Dynamic Events, as well as Heart Tasks, if you find your self short on Karma to buy some nice Karma Vendor reward, you can just make it a point to do DEs when ever you find them, including repeating events you've seem before when you happen accross them and you should be fine.
I always buy what I need but not what I want. You never know what you'll "need" at higher levels and regret spending that 5000 karma you might end up grinding for it.
None-the-less, it's whatever makes you happy counts the most.
"When you're born you're naked, when you die you're naked again, and in-between all we do is work, eat, and play MMOs." ~Forum Warrior #141
My initial inclination is to save them since you have more ways to make money (crafting, drops, etc.) than karma.
Thoughts?
Sighs at Binary Poll when there is a third-option: Use some, save most.
I was thinking this would be covered in "Spend as you go".
Lacks range. Spend them as you get them can go from spending & saving to using them up like a sailor on a four-day pass...
Both are spending. One is prudent, conservative and lets you make sure you don't make any real errors while not hobbling yourself too much. The other... Well, you can earn them back. But that takes TIME. And I may have other (better) things to do with my time later on....
Save them till you are lvl 40. Then purchase the yellow weapons from the city karma vendors, and use those till you can get mastercrafted lvl 50 weapons.
Save up and purchase lvl 65 yellows etc. Dont spend them on heartquest vendors unless its for a recipe you want there. The other items except some of the weapon skins are not really a great investment as you out level them fairly quickly.
One of the reasons I don't spend all my Karma points is that I outlevel the gear within hours. I'll spend some to fill holes. I'll spend some to upgrade something really weak. But, it comes back to the fact that I out-leveled the gear fairly soon and would rather spend it on something good for 10-15 levels than 5 levels...
Save them till you are lvl 40. Then purchase the yellow weapons from the city karma vendors, and use those till you can get mastercrafted lvl 50 weapons.
Save up and purchase lvl 65 yellows etc. Dont spend them on heartquest vendors unless its for a recipe you want there. The other items except some of the weapon skins are not really a great investment as you out level them fairly quickly.
One of the reasons I don't spend all my Karma points is that I outlevel the gear within hours. I'll spend some to fill holes. I'll spend some to upgrade something really weak. But, it comes back to the fact that I out-leveled the gear fairly soon and would rather spend it on something good for 10-15 levels than 5 levels...
And this is why I didn't spend much Karma early game.
And if you craft, there's almost no need to spend karma. between crafted gear and what you earn levelling you outlevel gear pretty fast. And if not, the differences in level of gear tend to be so slight you can have a level 10 BP at level 25 and not really notice.
Comments
I dont think its a bad poll, its a bad polling methode presented by MMORPG.com.
Having an option to bypass a poll should be standard. The way you indicate, the option itselves meddles intoo the poll results which is just as bad.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
How do I put this?
You can gain more karma per hour the higher you get. It makes low level karma gains insignificant. Spend, spend, spend... at least until 30. I'm not sure where the point will be that it might be worth saving, but don't save early level stuff as the benefit/cost ratio is too high to ignore.
You do reach a point, i think around level 15, when you start getting the option of buying green versions of the normally blue karma gear, which is more expensive but has better stats.
I found myself stockpiling points so that I could load up on these, since just 3-4 pieces would wipe out most of my accumulated karma points.
But then again, that's just me.
"Loading screens" are not "instances".
Your personal efforts to troll any game will not, in fact, impact the success or failure of said game.
They are so easy to get there is no point in saving them
There was so much around that I never spent any karma points because I didn't figure out what all I could buy with them in time. Then the beta ended =P. (I only played BWE3)
The only things I've seen to spend them on are the armour sets (for the skins). All the gear vendors seem to have nothing better than I already do (since I'm a craftaholic), and my wife is already doing cooking. But seriously they come so fast and so often it doesn't seem like it's really worth holding them, by level 20 I had nearly 3k of them and it didn't seem like I could spit without earning Karma points.
In the beta..i spent them.Live...I will craft..and save them.
At level 30, city karma vendors sell some pretty sweet gear of varying quality for 10s of thousands of karma points. From my personal experience, I netted about a grand total of 6-8k karma by leveling from 1-30 through pve, which wasn't even enough to purchase one piece of gear I wanted.
That said, I don't think this means conserving even more is necessarily the way to go. It seems the karma you receive at early levels simply isn't sufficient for these big purchases. These smaller amounts seem meant to be spent on small upgrades and runes as you unlock new heart quest vendors.
As you reach higher levels, you earn karma at a substantially faster rate. After level 30, it may be more prudent to save up karma for the epic gear sets. Once you get what you want, continue spending it freely at newly unlocked HQ vendors until the next level plateau is reached where new expensive karma gear sets are available.
If you are planning on being a Cook or supplying a cook with resources be aware that some ingredients can only be gotten with Karma.
I bought every upgrade I could from the karma vendors, as soon as I finished a heart I always went to check what was sold.
I wasnt trying to save them, but by lvl 16 I had 2300. There just wasnt much to spend them on.
It would be wise to spend them as you go, as it isn't prudent to do otherwise.
"For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed:
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!"
~Lord George Gordon Byron
Not spending them is silly as you get more faster at higher level anyway. The amount you gain while saving them simply isn't worth it in the long run.
There is no need to save them up for later levels. You should be earning Karma at a rate that allows you to buy important upgrades as you go with out much trouble.
I noticed that karma rates seemed a little tighter in BWE3 than in previous events, so I would say not to waste them on fluff, unless you really want to, but if you save up until level 7 and only buy armor and weapon upgrades that are worth the purchase, you'll be fine.
Karma provides a mechanism for you to chose your own rewards for doing DEs and Heart Tasks, rather than being given a lot of quest rewards you can't use. There is nothing you need to hoard Karma for in order to be able to buy them later on in the game.
Since Karma is rewarded for Dynamic Events, as well as Heart Tasks, if you find your self short on Karma to buy some nice Karma Vendor reward, you can just make it a point to do DEs when ever you find them, including repeating events you've seem before when you happen accross them and you should be fine.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Spend throughout if I found a decent upgrade. I was a bit thrifty though, had quite the excess at end of weekend.
spend them and have cooler skins .)
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
Thanks for all the thoughtful responses!
I would just spend them, since you will get a lot of karma by the time you get to 80 anyway.
How about some middle ground?
I always buy what I need but not what I want. You never know what you'll "need" at higher levels and regret spending that 5000 karma you might end up grinding for it.
None-the-less, it's whatever makes you happy counts the most.
"When you're born you're naked, when you die you're naked again, and in-between all we do is work, eat, and play MMOs." ~Forum Warrior #141
Lacks range. Spend them as you get them can go from spending & saving to using them up like a sailor on a four-day pass...
Both are spending. One is prudent, conservative and lets you make sure you don't make any real errors while not hobbling yourself too much. The other... Well, you can earn them back. But that takes TIME. And I may have other (better) things to do with my time later on....
Spend as you go, it's more about the journey than about the destination.
why on earth would you save them for when you get tons? Just go WvW for the day and you end up with like 5k of em
One of the reasons I don't spend all my Karma points is that I outlevel the gear within hours. I'll spend some to fill holes. I'll spend some to upgrade something really weak. But, it comes back to the fact that I out-leveled the gear fairly soon and would rather spend it on something good for 10-15 levels than 5 levels...
And this is why I didn't spend much Karma early game.
And if you craft, there's almost no need to spend karma. between crafted gear and what you earn levelling you outlevel gear pretty fast. And if not, the differences in level of gear tend to be so slight you can have a level 10 BP at level 25 and not really notice.
I spent Karma to fill gaps in gear and consumables, as well as for some recipes. I see absolutely no point in hoarding it till 80.