New—Watchwork Mining Pick!

OldManFunk

Just so you know, I'm not going to make this into a thing... but I thought I'd share details of this new cash shop item with everyone.

In GW2 everyone can gather resources. Gathering is done by purchasing tools that have charges. A charge is used every time you gather adding a small cost to gathering.

 

A while ago GW2 introduced unlimited gathering tools that can be purchased for about $10 in gems. These tools let you bypass the small cost of gathering (and inconvenience of needing to replace tools) because they do not have charges and are therefor unlimited. This wasn't a big deal to most people because the in-game gold conversion cost of gems to purchase these tools (what you were getting for your money) made these unlimited tools cost prohibitive. All you were really buying was convenience.

 

Introducing the all new Watchwork Mining Pick!

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/new-watchwork-mining-pick-and-more-in-the-gem-store/

 

New—Watchwork Mining Pick!

A recent breakthrough in mining technology has let us make a new infinite mining pick. This self-repairing pick has a chance to add a Watchwork Sprocket to the rewards when used to mine ore veins!

 

This new addition to the cash shop adds the ability to obtain additional resources that you cannot otherwise obtain via similar methods.

 

Mine with a regular pick bought in-game? Ore.

 

Mine with a cash shop Watchwork pick? Ore + Sprockets.

 

Obtaining extra Sprockets doesn't really change a whole lot in the game. It won't make sPvP imbalanced, won't help you win WvW (any more than converting gems), and won't help you complete Arah. These are technically available to everyone since Gems can still be purchased with in-game gold (although at a rate that is currently not worth the time investement).

 

The question is, is this kind of stuff fluff? What reason is there to obtain a Legendary weapon, the best weapon in the game, when you can swipe your credit card and purchase one from the trading post? If the real advancement in GW2 is obtaining unique skins and unique skins are being sold on the trading post for Gems then what does that say about GW2?

 

What direction is GW2 going in? I can't say for certain but the latest cash shop gathering tool gives players who purchase it a chance at extra materials above and beyond what other tools give.

Gaia_Hunter

I'm going to tell you what the problem with the tools are.

They are worthless.

They are a convenience item that is only convenient if you play a single character.

If they want to sell more 1000 gems tools what they need to do is make them an account unlock and every character you make receives it.

Instant buy from me.

Sprockets sell for 40c a piece. 

The new living story achievement reward gives a node of sprockets for your home instance.

Sprockets drop plenty during Scarlet invasions.

Orichalcum tools sell for 4s 80c and have 100 uses, so it still is 4.8 copper per use.

This tool costs 1000 gems, that is around 80g or so.

So meh.

You can only acquire Legendary weapons from players that want to sell them - the entire game has 4 or 5 legendary weapons of each type for sale.

So 5 people can swipe their credit cards and get all of them and it only cost some $10K.

It will also make the gem gold value drop allowing players to stack on cheap gems.

When someone buy a legendary with real world money you can see the 100 gems price drop from 9 gold to 4 gold.

Kenaoshi

Nitpicking but get pick from mail, use, go to bank, log another char, go bank, equip pick, go map, use, go city, store pic, log another char... don't start being an inconvenience? ;x

Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

I actually logged in to double-check, and indeed, all the old tools and this new one are all account bound, so you can use them on all characters. If you level an alt, just put the tools in your bank and get them on the other character, takes like 1 minute.

So, not that bad of a deal.

EDIT after seeing additional post: yeah, well, it requires a little effort, but come on... it's not that bad

Neither is buying tools at one of the various merchants around the world.

So, still meh.

OldManFunk

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

I'm going to tell you what the problem with the tools are.

They are worthless.

They are a convenience item that is only convenient if you play a single character.

If they want to sell more 1000 gems tools what they need to do is make them an account unlock and every character you make receives it.

Instant buy from me.

Sprockets sell for 40c a piece. 

The new living story achievement reward gives a node of sprockets for your home instance.

Sprockets drop plenty during Scarlet invasions.

Orichalcum tools sell for 4s 80c and have 100 uses, so it still is 4.8 copper per use.

This tool costs 1000 gems, that is around 80g or so.

So meh.

You can only acquire Legendary weapons from players that want to sell them - the entire game has 4 or 5 legendary weapons of each type for sale.

So 5 people can swipe their credit cards and get all of them and it only cost some $10K.

It will also make the gem gold value drop allowing players to stack on cheap gems.

When someone buy a legendary with real world money you can see the 100 gems price drop from 9 gold to 4 gold.

I agree but I drew a different conclusion.

 

The gathering tools are not worth the gem conversion and therefor not really worth buying with in-game currency... but the convenience and the advantage of extra materials that these new cash shop gathering tools produce are very likely worth $10.

 

So here you have an item that gives an in-game advantage when purchased with real money but the advantage is lost when the same item is purchased with in-game gold due to the in-game return being less than the in-game investment.

 

I understand that Sprockets are not going to win the game for anyone. Gold can already be purchased for Gems, so this doesn't change much in terms of whether or not GW2 is pay to win... but I think this cash shop item is significant because it shows an increasing willingness to give cash shop items in-game advantages, advantages that disappear if you are not willing to use real money to purchase them.

elitero

Originally posted by OldManFunk

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

I'm going to tell you what the problem with the tools are.

They are worthless.

They are a convenience item that is only convenient if you play a single character.

If they want to sell more 1000 gems tools what they need to do is make them an account unlock and every character you make receives it.

Instant buy from me.

Sprockets sell for 40c a piece. 

The new living story achievement reward gives a node of sprockets for your home instance.

Sprockets drop plenty during Scarlet invasions.

Orichalcum tools sell for 4s 80c and have 100 uses, so it still is 4.8 copper per use.

This tool costs 1000 gems, that is around 80g or so.

So meh.

You can only acquire Legendary weapons from players that want to sell them - the entire game has 4 or 5 legendary weapons of each type for sale.

So 5 people can swipe their credit cards and get all of them and it only cost some $10K.

It will also make the gem gold value drop allowing players to stack on cheap gems.

When someone buy a legendary with real world money you can see the 100 gems price drop from 9 gold to 4 gold.

I agree but I drew a different conclusion.

 

The gathering tools are not worth the gem conversion and therefor not really worth buying with in-game currency... but the convenience and the advantage of extra materials that these new cash shop gathering tools produce are very likely worth $10.

 

So here you have an item that gives an in-game advantage when purchased with real money but the advantage is lost when the same item is purchased with in-game gold due to the in-game return being less than the in-game investment.

 

I understand that Sprockets are not going to win the game for anyone. Gold can already be purchased for Gems, so this doesn't change much in terms of whether or not GW2 is pay to win... but I think this cash shop item is significant because it shows an increasing willingness to give cash shop items in-game advantages, advantages that disappear if you are not willing to use real money to purchase them.

For me I think the account bound item for 10 dollars is a steal as I have 7 80s and 8th one about to be finished in a few days, so the 80g for a tool that can be used on all my chars is worth the gem transfer.

catlana

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

I actually logged in to double-check, and indeed, all the old tools and this new one are all account bound, so you can use them on all characters. If you level an alt, just put the tools in your bank and get them on the other character, takes like 1 minute.

So, not that bad of a deal.

EDIT after seeing additional post: yeah, well, it requires a little effort, but come on... it's not that bad

Neither is buying tools at one of the various merchants around the world.

So, still meh.

I really, really wish GW2 would add collections. Then these would be an instant buy for me. Otherwise, nope not buying. 

eye_m

I think the price is probably about where it should be. After all, some people are happy to pay it but it's more than I am willing to spend for such an item.

Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by elitero

For me I think the account bound item for 10 dollars is a steal as I have 7 80s and 8th one about to be finished in a few days, so the 80g for a tool that can be used on all my chars is worth the gem transfer.

I generally play a couple of characters per day, and definitely will be playing several during a week or month.

So if I'm buying a convenience item I want to buy it and forget about it and for it to work with all of my characters.

This item either is buy and forget but only for 1/8 of my characters or works for all of them but it involves loads of fiddling.

The least fiddling method is to go to WvW borderlands (you have crafting stations with bank access 5 seconds away) to deposit it or withdraw, but there is the risk of it being full.

Again, to interest me it would either have to be something every character received upon creation or something you could withdraw like the achievement skin rewards.

And it is not like paying $37.50 for this per player would be a crappy revenue instead of per character or get tons of inconvenient fiddling.

elitero

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by elitero

For me I think the account bound item for 10 dollars is a steal as I have 7 80s and 8th one about to be finished in a few days, so the 80g for a tool that can be used on all my chars is worth the gem transfer.

I generally play a couple of characters per day, and definitely will be playing several during a week or month.

So if I'm buying a convenience item I want to buy it and forget about it and for it to work with all of my characters.

This item either is buy and forget but only for 1/8 of my characters or works for all of them but it involves loads of fiddling.

The least fiddling method is to go to WvW borderlands (you have crafting stations with bank access 5 seconds away) to deposit it or withdraw, but there is the risk of it being full.

Again, to interest me it would either have to be something every character received upon creation or something you could withdraw like the achievement skin rewards.

And it is not like paying $37.50 for this per player would be a crappy revenue instead of per character or get tons of inconvenient fiddling.

Best place for crafting is Field of Ruins, you can port to it from Divinity's Reach

Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by elitero

Best place for crafting is Field of Ruins, you can port to it from Divinity's Reach

Why should I go to fields of ruin from Divinity's Reach to craft if Divinity's has all the crafting stations?

Anyway I wasn't talking about crafting.

Let me give you an example of what I meant.

I'm in Cursed Shores playing with my warrior.

Now I want to go play with my necro that is in Fireheart rise.

With my warrior I load into my world borderlands, go to the crafting stations and since the crafting station give access to the bank I deposit my unlimited tools.

Now I change character (next time I load with my warrior he will be in Cursed Shores).

I load my necro and take him to the WvW borderlands. Pick up the tools from the bank. Now I do character select again and log with my Necro - he is in Fireheart Rise with the tools.

elitero

I understand that, I was just saying you had mentioned crafting and I just wanted to add that, in gw2 the fastest place to move around from the TP to crafting stations to banks is in Field of Ruins . That is all, I already know about the other stuff =P.

 

 

Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by elitero

I understand that, I was just saying you had mentioned crafting and I just wanted to add that, in gw2 the fastest place to move around from the TP to crafting stations to banks is in Field of Ruins . That is all, I already know about the other stuff =P.

 

 

I don't even know what you are on about since I just mentioned the crafting stations as bank access for withdraw/deposit the permanent tools to share between multiple characters.

elitero

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by elitero

I understand that, I was just saying you had mentioned crafting and I just wanted to add that, in gw2 the fastest place to move around from the TP to crafting stations to banks is in Field of Ruins . That is all, I already know about the other stuff =P.

 

 

I don't even know what you are on about since I just mentioned the crafting stations as bank access for withdraw/deposit the permanent tools to share between multiple characters.

nvm

 

/10char

Homitu

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

I actually logged in to double-check, and indeed, all the old tools and this new one are all account bound, so you can use them on all characters. If you level an alt, just put the tools in your bank and get them on the other character, takes like 1 minute.

So, not that bad of a deal.

EDIT after seeing additional post: yeah, well, it requires a little effort, but come on... it's not that bad

Idk, when the true value of the item lies in its increased convenience, adding an inconvenience comparable to the standard inconvenience of having to periodically run to a vendor to purchase new gathering tools kind of negates the items value in my opinion.  

Homitu

Originally posted by OldManFunk

The question is, is this kind of stuff fluff? What reason is there to obtain a Legendary weapon, the best weapon in the game, when you can swipe your credit card and purchase one from the trading post? If the real advancement in GW2 is obtaining unique skins and unique skins are being sold on the trading post for Gems then what does that say about GW2?

What direction is GW2 going in? I can't say for certain but the latest cash shop gathering tool gives players who purchase it a chance at extra materials above and beyond what other tools give.

This is what the game has been from the beginning.  It's not going in any new direction.  

Is this stuff fluff?  99.9% of it is.  As you said, virtually none of it has any balance impact on the game.  Power is as readily available to non cash shop spending players as it is to players who drop thousands of dollars.  There is absolutely nothing that holds a non-paying player back from reaching maximum competitive power on a character.  

As for the additional mining resource, sprockets are worth 40c per.  Just as with the other infinite harvesting tools, you will have to have mined with it thousands upon thousands of times in order to finally break even on your gold/money investment in the tools. Their primary function is still convenience, which, as I said in my previous post, could still use some work.  If you wish to argue that purchasing this tool with real money allows the player to extremely gradually make more gold than other miners, this is no different than the ability for players to purchase gems with money and then convert those gems to gold, which has been available to players all along.  And I daresay that if players wanted to use their real money to make gold faster, they'd most certainly just choose the conversion option over the painstakingly slow mine farming option.  

And the impact of the economic disparity between players who buy gems and convert them to gold is minimal, as the conversion rate constantly balances around the amount of gold that is being converted into gems and vice versa.  Additionally, the market constantly balances around the overall level of gold in the economy, making everything the average person obtains proportionally equally as valuable as it's always been.  You used to struggle to make enough gold to purchase your skill books while leveling a new character.  Now you make dozens of gold just by selling your weapon and armor drops on the TP as you level.  It's not uncommon to walk away from a leveling experience with 30+ gold now.  

As for the value of Legendaries and the like, this is an issue I've personally had with the game from day 1.  I personally don't value them at all.  I look at someone with a legendary and think "no big deal."  This is partly true because players could just buy their way through most of the legendary process (although that would be retardedly expensive, like thousands of dollars), but mostly just because it all hinges on gold in the first place.  Whenever a reward is centered around gold, regardless of whether or not players can buy gold, that reward is valueless to me, apart from aesthetics.  I appreciate rewards that are symbols of one's accomplishments or skill.  Legendaries, or any gear in GW2 really, fail to symbolize that.  

So yeah, the game's progression is basically about obtaining new looks solely for aesthetic purposes.  That's exactly what it's been about from the beginning.  

DanitaKusor

There are other options to get sprockets so this item is not required. In addition to invasions by scarlet's forces as already pointed out, I believe the new dungeon path in TA drops them (well no so new now..) and the recent living story event (still available until the 18th) gives you a personal sprocket generator that goes into your home instance of all your characters from which you can mine 6-8 sprockets per day, and I think it is per character so potentially 40 sprockets a day with the base number of characters. Also the current marionette event will give you 50 sprockets per chest I believe and you can repeat that every 2 hours.  I'm not sure but I also think the etherblade chest in scarlet's lair will also give them as well.

GeezerGamer

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

I actually logged in to double-check, and indeed, all the old tools and this new one are all account bound, so you can use them on all characters. If you level an alt, just put the tools in your bank and get them on the other character, takes like 1 minute.

So, not that bad of a deal.

EDIT after seeing additional post: yeah, well, it requires a little effort, but come on... it's not that bad

As of 10 min ago:

Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by GeezerGamer

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

I actually logged in to double-check, and indeed, all the old tools and this new one are all account bound, so you can use them on all characters. If you level an alt, just put the tools in your bank and get them on the other character, takes like 1 minute.

So, not that bad of a deal.

EDIT after seeing additional post: yeah, well, it requires a little effort, but come on... it's not that bad

As of 10 min ago:

That is an old one that hasn't been changed by its owner.

12 of November 2013 patch notes.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2013-11-12#Black_Lion_Trading_Company_Gem_Store

New Items and Promotions

• All permanent gathering tools will now be account bound rather than soulbound. For one week, account-bound versions of the Jack-in-the-Box Scythe and Bone Pick gathering tools will be available in the Services category of the Gem Store for 1000 gems each.
  • Previously purchased permanent gathering tools can be upgraded to account-bound versions by unequipping them and bringing them to a Black Lion Weapons Specialist.

 

If that is yours, go to a Black Lion Weapons Specialist and enjoy ur new account bound tool.

GeezerGamer

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by GeezerGamer

Originally posted by Jean-Luc_Picard

I actually logged in to double-check, and indeed, all the old tools and this new one are all account bound, so you can use them on all characters. If you level an alt, just put the tools in your bank and get them on the other character, takes like 1 minute.

So, not that bad of a deal.

EDIT after seeing additional post: yeah, well, it requires a little effort, but come on... it's not that bad

As of 10 min ago:

 

That is an old one that hasn't been changed by its owner.

12 of November 2013 patch notes.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game_updates/2013-11-12#Black_Lion_Trading_Company_Gem_Store

New Items and Promotions

• All permanent gathering tools will now be account bound rather than soulbound. For one week, account-bound versions of the Jack-in-the-Box Scythe and Bone Pick gathering tools will be available in the Services category of the Gem Store for 1000 gems each.
  • Previously purchased permanent gathering tools can be upgraded to account-bound versions by unequipping them and bringing them to a Black Lion Weapons Specialist.

 

If that is yours, go to a Black Lion Weapons Specialist and enjoy ur new account bound tool.

Thanks, I misunderstood the process of upgrading. I bought it initially, not for the unlimited use, but I just thought the animation was cool. I have started playing an alt more so I started regretting the purchase. Now that I can equip it on others, It was worth it. And might buy future versions of the other tools.

HellCaster

I personally love the unlimited tools, not for level 80's, but for leveling alts from 2 to 80. It saves a lot of hassle while leveling an alt. Additionally, if you wanted to take a <80 into WvW (EB specifically) where the resources are high level, the perm tools will still let you harvest them regardless of your level.