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GW2: A look at the Cash Shop
maskedweasel
Member LegendaryPosts: 12,195
Despite GW2s cash shop not really having anything that players NEED to buy, people often complain how this game is a (box pay) with a cash shop. Many of these same people are also those that prefer subscriptions in lieu of any type of cash shop (despite just about every game having some kind of out of game pay - service these days)
So, as there may be a new expansion coming up, I decided to get back into GW2, and while I haven't decided if there is anything in the cash shop I want to purchase.. I figured I'd treat it as I would a subscription game, and just get the base amount of gems per month. (10 dollars a month for 800 gems)
Now I've been playign GW2 since launch, and I did buy a number of items from the cash shop before... mostly they were character slots (so that I can have one of each character) But that was me always spending money with a purpose. This is me just putting money into the game every month that I play.. (from this point forward)
So for giggles, I compiled a list of what it would have been like had I paid 10 dollars a month for the 27 months my characters have been in GW2.
(thanks for checking my math guys)
$270.00 which is the equivalent of 21,600 gems.
If you were to transfer gems to gold, that would be 3169.53 of in game gold.
Currently the most expensive weapon on the Market is 4,241.00 of in game gold (eternity). Which is slightly out of reach, though just about every other legendary is around the 3000 gold mark at this time.
You could have dozens upon dozens of characters.. buy out the item shop of all items ... and that doesn't include any of the in-game items or funds you would receive from playing those 2+ years.
Its kind of interesting when I look at it in terms of the cash shop.. as opposed to other games that I played for years like SWG where even after a couple years I still wasn't a jedi. And in GW2... well.. the biggest achievement you can get, can essentially be bought -- and then some -- all for less than what I spent in SWG.
Any thoughts?
Comments
I don't have a problem with GW2s cash shop except that I think ArenaNet is more concern with keeping new things in there instead of anything else.
Anyway, I like that I do not have to buy anything from there in order to play and stay competative. Now if I was worried about style or pets or things like that then yes, maybe putting in 10-15 a month would be a nice idea so you could have that stockpile of gems or even sell those gems for in game gold.
As much as I currently find wrong with GW2 the buy the box and play for free (b2p) is something that I do like. Cash shop to me is meh. As long as they don't start adding things in there that are required (ie, pay 2 win things).
Your math is a little wrong 270 dollars is only 21600 gems which is like 3200 gold which would not even get you one eternity.
haha my math was off, when I went to the market I was looking at the price for 2000 gems. Sorry, I was playing PvP at the time and didn't pay attention.
So its actually 10.00s ='s 800 gems ='s 117.39 gold SO it would be 117.39 * 27 So you're right. Which is enough for most legendary items. I'll fix my math up above.
so about 300$ for a legendary weapon huh.
I honestly have no issue with the GW2 gem store and the fact that legendary weapons can be bought. The biggest roadblock for getting a legendary is actually the precursor, since there was absolutely no guarantee of ever getting one as a loot drop, let alone the one you need. Everything else in terms of making a legendary weapon was grinding out the other mats at a rate that wasn't all that terrible.
$270 over 27 months is still less money than a traditional sub given the same amount of time (roughly $405 dollars). Yes there are people who have spent more, but I would imagine there are more people who have spent considerably less.
Additionally, aside from the unique skin, legendary weapons aren't all that statistically better than an exotic weapon of similar stats. Min/Maxers may feel the "need" to obtain the best possible statistical advantage, but someone in full exotics can easily compete with someone in full ascended gear. Build and skill have more effect.
I like the cash shop, I have never spent any real $$ into it, although I have converted ingame gold to gems to buy extra perks.
Plus the shop has some extra fluff gear for the looks.
If people want to sink in real money,so be it...it does not give them any advantage in pve or pvp against a well played opponent.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
If you want to support the game, support it.
Cash shop is optional.
If you truly enjoy the game then getting the gold at endgame to exchange for anything you want in the cash shop is stupidly easy to do.
Way I see it, if you don't enjoy it enough for that then there's no point spending your money on something you're not into so don't worry about it.
I prefer the B2P model with Cash Shop, because you can spend your money when you want to, and still have access to the game. In some subscription MMO's you can't even log in to the game. You are forced to spend $15 a month, and they still have a Cash Shop, and still charge for services such as transfers, so it's not really a flat rate for access to everything. It's an illusion really.
Acquiring a legendary isn't a fair comparison either. They are the most desired items in the game, so it's obviously supposed to take longer to get. Let's say you want a legendary in WoW (pre-MoP & WoD), you would have to continually pay $15 a month anyway just to get lucky. You should total up the amount it would be to acquire a full set of Ascended gear instead. That would be more realistic.
I would not buy gems directly from the game store, especially if you live in the EU.
80 gems/(€$), 94 gems/£
You can buy 2000 gem cards for $23.82, £15.73, €18.85.
84gems/$, 127gems/£ or 106 gems/€
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
"its obviously supposed to take longer to get" is kinda the point. doesn't take long to type in a credit card number and hit accept.
also i remember i was able to buy my new character to max level and full set of exotic for just under 50 dollars via crafting at one point.
my issues with gw2 shop are 2
1) gems to gold conversion
2)they had lottery boxes for skins back when i played. its gambling with no outside controls on the odds to prevent questionable practices.
If people want to pay like 300$ for a purely cosmetic item they can be my guest. They can also buy a character to 80 if they want; at this point that matters so little. Most people who have been playing the game on a regular basis already have multiple 80s. Getting a max level character with full exotics is a complete joke, even compared to what it used to be (also, a complete joke). If they want to waste their money on that kind of stuff let them. They don't hurt you by doing that. Hell, they only help you by giving ArenaNet money to provide you with more content!
The reason people can do this is the same reason they can buy cash shop items via in game currency. Would you rather they take out the ability to earn cash shop items in the game in order to make it so a very small minority who is willing to waste money gearing a character out in ascended gear or a legendary can't do so? Even if you would; I can assure you a vast majority of players would rather be able to earn cash shop items in game.
You have a point on gambling, however, you can buy black lion weapon skins with gold for cheaper then you can gambling them usually. Atleast you have that option. Anyways, most games with a cash shop have RNG lockboxes. At least this one is just for convenience items and skins that aren't super hard to get until they have been out for a year or so.
it absolutely has an effect on me. do you have any idea how many times i had to solo bosses in CoE, arch, and fractals because i had between 1-4 tools who bought there character and equipment(some times the legendary) via cash in my group.
also back before i quit you couldn't buy the random box items(the one with the fiery weapon models in particular i had guildies spending 50-60 dollars to get 1 weapon voucher) on the auction house. i see they since have changed things.
I have to laugh at anyone who attempts to buy a legendary (even though they're pretty), in hopes of being more powerful than other players... They carry the exact same stats as ascended weapons (if I'm not mistaken), and ascended weapons are extremely easy to make.
The only advantage a legendary has is being able to change it's stats to whatever build you need it for while out of combat. Yes this can be extremely handy but is by no means overpowering. There are certain stat combos that are just far more effective than others and players generally stick to those ones which almost makes changing stats on your legendary next to useless.
The only reasons people should ever been attempting to craft a legendary are:
1) They want the Achievement
2) They are a collector and want all the skins
3) They have mats burning a hole in their bank
The only real reason (for those who know what the game is about) for someone to buy a legendary would be for the above 2 reasons. Paying real money for gems to convert to gold to buy a legendary is just outright stupid.
As I said, legendaries have the same stats as ascended and ascended is easy to make. Ascended stats are only marginally better than exotics and many players just stick to exotics to save gold to transfer over to gems.
This is one thing Anet did right with their cash shop; there is no real way to buy power or advance to power quicker through it. All these items that can be worn at level 80, a player would have more than enough gold to purchase multiple armor sets for each character, simply by playing the game.
Just wanted to point out that you're supporting it either way. By trading gold for gems, you're buying gems that another player bought with the intention of selling to you. You're also driving up the conversion price, enticing others to buy gems to sell for gold.
That's part of the genius of the currency conversion model.
The cash shop doesn't bother me at all actually. It's all convenience items or for cosmetic purposes.
it's allot better than most cash shops from crappy FTP games.
Hey at least it isn't nowhere near as bad as KoonCoon™ spending somewhere around $25,000 - $30,000 to be the #1 ranked player in ArcheAge (and then hovered around the number 2 and 3 mark before he rage quit). On topic I rarely felt the urge to buy any of the costumes. My typical monthly spending on GW2 averages out to $5 a month. I've never bought and will never buy a RNG box from any MMO.Thankfully GW2 made it real easy. I have never liked none of the cash shop weapons in the game. I think they either look very boring/bland with the same old fire/ice theme... or they end up looking plain bad.
I think there was one set of cash shop weapons that looked neat, since the game's release... but I never even bothered of trying to get them from the auction house. Some of the costumes/armors have been pretty amazing. There is one thing I question though. Why is it that they only release (on some armors) the head/feet/hands only. I've never seen this from any AAA (not sure overall across all MMOs). Is this due to time/money restrictions given out by NCSOFT, or this due to the fact that these armors might create more in-game clippings?
I NEVER remember ever needing or begging for that next expansion playing FFXI,i doubt GW2 players can say the same.Point being you always get what you pay for but imo if you paid the equivalent of a sub fee to play a game that was imo not worth the same value you paid too much.The argument of course will ALWAYS be,WORTH is to the individual,they put the worth value on a game and to that argument ,i cannot disagree.
So if you personally found the value was there ,an equivalent of a sub game,all the power to you.However i get more a feeling you are not comparing value but simply comparing cost/price to which is exactly what developers using the cash shop idea want you to think. Cash shop developers want you to play their game because it has no monthly sub and if that is your reason for playing,it is not a good one.
I have two ways to assess a developer and it's choice.
1 If they thought they could pull off a sub fee they would,no question about it as it is a LOT of steady cash flow every month.
2 They perhaps could feel they could make more from a cash shop than a nominal 15 bucks a month.This could be an argument as this OP has stated he paid the equivalent of a sub fee and seems to be a tad diligent with spending,so imagine those that were not.
No matter which argument imo neither one spells a positive for the gamer.There is a lot of competition out there,if the developer feels they cannot compete with a sub fee,then guess what it is likely not good enough to compete with a sub fee.IF they feel they can catch the players paying too much or more than 15 bucks,again how is that good for the player and not a one sided loaded deal?
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
That's true to some degree, but most MMO"s have standardized components, where the amount of certain things can be compared.
Underrated post, I really like the whole system for the choice and flexibility.
If you didn't earn it in game, why would you want to look like some high level char? I am talking about the cloths skins:( Does anybody remember before cash shops when you saw someone that was really unique and had worked their ass off ingame to earn it, they would run buy and you would go nice!
Now, I hardly pay attention to someone running by, who cares I am sure they bought it in the cash shop. And who cares if that is all they have in the cash shop it doesn't give them an ingame advantage other then looks ( I think it is worse then pay to win). You think your cool and everybody is staring at you because of some flaming mount but again it is just a cash shop item.
Everybody gets a trophy and there free! HAHA
Last time I checked for the average people, earning money require them to work their asses off as well.
And there is a reason that out of game work is rated higher than ingame "work".
"Bah look at that guy Ferrari! I'm sure the lazy ass used his credit card!"
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders