True, I've since learned that those keys can be found in the world as drops. The rate may not as high as if you purchase them with gems, but you can still get them. If it's in the game, I don't consider it an inconvience just because I have to *gasp* play the damn thing in order to get it.
Yeah the rate may not be high...or why would they expect anyone to buy the damn things? If you dont buy them then you will not open all you see.....so its great that you are so pleased with that. Maybe someone that buys them will run by you an open it an tell you what he got...LMAO!!!!! HMMM....if its a very nice weapon could that be considered P2W?? Hmmmm.
Like they are saying, you are uniformed. First of all drops are personal so no one is gona come and take your loot at any time.
Secondly the chest is an ITEM that you pick and that later you can open with the keys you get from playing the game so you are not losing anything, it just tkes you longer to open the chests, but you can open them all eventually.
thirdly, there is no "very nice weapon" on GW2 because it isnt a grinding game, and that shows you are a talking out of your ass because you know nothing of the game or its predecesor
On behalf of people here, i ask you, stop spreading misinformation.
I'm not uninformed..I can read and i got eyes and i saw the cash shop and i read where you had to buy mystical keys to open chests. Sorry to break your heart.....Maybe remove the blinders and you can read it for yourself. Keep trolling misinformation.
Actually, you did say that you have to buy a key to open them, which we've learned is not true. Maybe you weren't trolling, but you were obviously misinformed.
I don't see why anyone would have a problem with the cash shop. Countless other subscription MMORPG's have used cash shop for cosmetic purposes. WoW and EQ2 for example. I am perfectly fine with the cash shop and I feel like it will add a little more to the game.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
I'm looking forward to playing the devs ruleset. The CS will be one of those 'rules'. As long as the player can control where they spend their gold/cash then there is no reason for anyone to be concerned.
The power is in the player's hand. You do not have to spend any cash in the CS...at all.
Anet've changed anything they think that dont work well for their game so far, and they are testing the cash shop at the moment so they can try if it affects gameplay/economy etc. in a bad way. I do not see why people are raging over that test. They iterate, iterate iterate...
Gaming Industry is not for your worthless souls to entertain forever for free, it is for making money. And still Anet offers the best offer beside most of the milker companies like blizzard, activision, EA/bio which is optional, they do not wan to force you for your real money. Geez this crap discussion is getting boring.
So blizzard is milker company if he ask you for 15$ per month and Anet is not for asking you 15$ for 1200 gems or what ever that is. We have some double standards here
Originally posted by evicton My point isn't that it will be a huge issue, I said myself its a small thing, but its a design philosophy issue. Before death was its own punishment. Then they needed attriticion mechanics for the good of the game. Now the attriticion mechanics are good for the game because they encourage you to spend gems to skip them. Its like if they add a trait respec kit into the CS...I'm not saying they will. What happened to wanting permance, you only want permance if I don't buy the kit. Again I will go back to my original question..If the attricion mechanic was so important why let someone pay to skip it.
My problem with this line of thinking is that it presumes money is just some unlimited resource. It's like there's no tradeoff. If I'm dying so much that I'm spending $20 a month in just repair kits, that's a waste of money. At the very least it has cut in to any other convenience items I may have wanted.
If someone had enough free time, they could simply fly to town and repair and play this suicide style anyway. Either way, the attrition mechanic is still there. All ANet is saying is, "If you 're dying all the time, you're probably not gonna have a good time".
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it.
My point isn't that it will be a huge issue, I said myself its a small thing, but its a design philosophy issue.
Before death was its own punishment. Then they needed attriticion mechanics for the good of the game. Now the attriticion mechanics are good for the game because they encourage you to spend gems to skip them.
Its like if they add a trait respec kit into the CS...I'm not saying they will. What happened to wanting permance, you only want permance if I don't buy the kit.
Again I will go back to my original question..If the attricion mechanic was so important why let someone pay to skip it.
My problem with this line of thinking is that it presumes money is just some unlimited resource. It's like there's no tradeoff. If I'm dying so much that I'm spending $20 a month in just repair kits, that's a waste of money. At the very least it has cut in to any other convenience items I may have wanted.
If someone had enough free time, they could simply fly to town and repair and play this suicide style anyway. Either way, the attrition mechanic is still there. All ANet is saying is, "If you 're dying all the time, you're probably not gonna have a good time".
While this can be true, in a game where people are complaining that 15 silver for a respec fee is to much cause it requires 30 minutes worth of mob trash to obtain that money and level 10 events give you a wooping 1-2 silvers.
Where is the real value in that item? The time saver or the gold saver.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it
Not gonna happen...I'm planning to treat GW2 as a subscription game...I'll spend my 15$ a month for gems.
I plan to be frugal and save up the gems until (if) I find something in the CS that really appeals to me.
My plan won't work for everyone....
I suggest to those that are strapped for cash to just ignore the cash shop for a while...ignore the mystic chests and sell them on the AH.
Soon you'll be rolling in gold and you can spend it as you wish.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it
Not gonna happen...I'm planning to treat GW2 as a subscription game...I'll spend my 15$ a month for gems.
I plan to be frugal and save up the gems until (if) I find something in the CS that really appeals to me.
My plan won't work for everyone....
I suggest to those that are strapped for cash to just ignore the cash shop for a while...ignore the mystic chests and sell them on the AH.
Soon you'll be rolling in gold and you can spend it as you wish.
It takes roughly 20-30 minutes to earn 15 silver... how will we be rolling in the gold?
Originally posted by evicton Originally posted by Size-Twelve
Originally posted by evicton
My point isn't that it will be a huge issue, I said myself its a small thing, but its a design philosophy issue. Before death was its own punishment. Then they needed attriticion mechanics for the good of the game. Now the attriticion mechanics are good for the game because they encourage you to spend gems to skip them. Its like if they add a trait respec kit into the CS...I'm not saying they will. What happened to wanting permance, you only want permance if I don't buy the kit. Again I will go back to my original question..If the attricion mechanic was so important why let someone pay to skip it.
My problem with this line of thinking is that it presumes money is just some unlimited resource. It's like there's no tradeoff. If I'm dying so much that I'm spending $20 a month in just repair kits, that's a waste of money. At the very least it has cut in to any other convenience items I may have wanted.
If someone had enough free time, they could simply fly to town and repair and play this suicide style anyway. Either way, the attrition mechanic is still there. All ANet is saying is, "If you 're dying all the time, you're probably not gonna have a good time". While this can be true, in a game where people are complaining that 15 silver for a respec fee is to much cause it requires 30 minutes worth of mob trash to obtain that money and level 10 events give you a wooping 1-2 silvers. Where is the real value in that item? The time saver or the gold saver.
That's all hearsay. It's the problem with this entire witch hunt. ANet has demonstrated they can run an effective shop once already. That's really all we know. Some skepticism is fine, but this has turned into something else altogether.
My point isn't that it will be a huge issue, I said myself its a small thing, but its a design philosophy issue.
Before death was its own punishment. Then they needed attriticion mechanics for the good of the game. Now the attriticion mechanics are good for the game because they encourage you to spend gems to skip them.
Its like if they add a trait respec kit into the CS...I'm not saying they will. What happened to wanting permance, you only want permance if I don't buy the kit.
Again I will go back to my original question..If the attricion mechanic was so important why let someone pay to skip it.
My problem with this line of thinking is that it presumes money is just some unlimited resource. It's like there's no tradeoff. If I'm dying so much that I'm spending $20 a month in just repair kits, that's a waste of money. At the very least it has cut in to any other convenience items I may have wanted.
If someone had enough free time, they could simply fly to town and repair and play this suicide style anyway. Either way, the attrition mechanic is still there. All ANet is saying is, "If you 're dying all the time, you're probably not gonna have a good time".
While this can be true, in a game where people are complaining that 15 silver for a respec fee is to much cause it requires 30 minutes worth of mob trash to obtain that money and level 10 events give you a wooping 1-2 silvers.
Where is the real value in that item? The time saver or the gold saver.
That's all hearsay. It's the problem with this entire witch hunt. ANet has demonstrated they can run an effective shop once already. That's really all we know. Some skepticism is fine, but this has turned into something else altogether.
Actually this isn't hearsay its what Elizabeth from massively found while she was playing the game. This is how the game is right now. You can check out her q&a if you don't wanna take my word from it.
That's all hearsay. It's the problem with this entire witch hunt. ANet has demonstrated they can run an effective shop once already. That's really all we know. Some skepticism is fine, but this has turned into something else altogether.
What you say is true, but I bet Guild Wars 2 cost a hell of a lot more money to develop than it did for Guild Wars 1, so I assume they will find other additional ways to make money than just from box sales. Buying gems for money is one of them, which was something that was never implemented in Guild Wars 1 cash shops.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it
Not gonna happen...I'm planning to treat GW2 as a subscription game...I'll spend my 15$ a month for gems.
I plan to be frugal and save up the gems until (if) I find something in the CS that really appeals to me.
My plan won't work for everyone....
I suggest to those that are strapped for cash to just ignore the cash shop for a while...ignore the mystic chests and sell them on the AH.
Soon you'll be rolling in gold and you can spend it as you wish.
It takes roughly 20-30 minutes to earn 15 silver... how will we be rolling in the gold?
Work the AH. Sell those mystic chests, sell crafting materials, sell equipment you can't use, do quests...
Instead of filling up your bags with stuff...sell frequently. The gold will build quickly.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it
Not gonna happen...I'm planning to treat GW2 as a subscription game...I'll spend my 15$ a month for gems.
I plan to be frugal and save up the gems until (if) I find something in the CS that really appeals to me.
My plan won't work for everyone....
I suggest to those that are strapped for cash to just ignore the cash shop for a while...ignore the mystic chests and sell them on the AH.
Soon you'll be rolling in gold and you can spend it as you wish.
It takes roughly 20-30 minutes to earn 15 silver... how will we be rolling in the gold?
Work the AH. Sell those mystic chests, sell crafting materials, sell equipment you can't use, do quests...
Instead of filling up your bags with stuff...sell frequently. The gold will build quickly.
Most of the trash drops you get sell for copper, even with an hour in a level 30 dungeon she only got roughly 50 silver. At this rate money is gonna be much harder to obtain then your typical mmo or atleast the ones I've been playing lately.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
That made to much sense so most probably stopped reading at point number 4.
They know this, they just wont admit it. But thats how game fan are.
You can have the same cash shop discussion on the Runes of magic forum, or Allods forum or any f2p forum and people will tell you that you dont need to spend a dime to play. Most will admit you need to spend to have fun and not be inconvenienced..but not to play. But when it comes to GW2 fans wont admit it...and they'll still pay $60 for a box..
After this game launches we never have to ever hear another person say anything bad about f2p cash shops.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it
Not gonna happen...I'm planning to treat GW2 as a subscription game...I'll spend my 15$ a month for gems.
I plan to be frugal and save up the gems until (if) I find something in the CS that really appeals to me.
My plan won't work for everyone....
I suggest to those that are strapped for cash to just ignore the cash shop for a while...ignore the mystic chests and sell them on the AH.
Soon you'll be rolling in gold and you can spend it as you wish.
It takes roughly 20-30 minutes to earn 15 silver... how will we be rolling in the gold?
Work the AH. Sell those mystic chests, sell crafting materials, sell equipment you can't use, do quests...
Instead of filling up your bags with stuff...sell frequently. The gold will build quickly.
Most of the trash drops you get sell for copper, even with an hour in a level 30 dungeon she only got roughly 50 silver. At this rate money is gonna be much harder to obtain then your typical mmo or atleast the ones I've been playing lately.
At level 10 an event is worth 1-2 silver..
It will be different when the game goes live. You'll have a full server and a lot of buyers. Gold won't be a problem.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
Then don't open the chest, what is your problem.
Its not that important, but if your that eager to open it you go ahead. If you can't buy a key in the AH you buy it in the CS. In GW1 they also had chests that needed keys, I never had them and it never bothered me.
So much cry about 0.01% of something you don't like about this game.
I dont like pink dyes, do I think that ruins the game for me? nah, there are always people that like it or not. Just don't make it such a big deal.
Cup half full or cup half empty.. I know what yours is.
Since the only way to get Gold for $$$ is to buy gems with $$$ and sell the Gems on the in-game marketplace for Gold, the rate at which gold is earned in the game will have a direct impact on the exchange rate. This effects the equation of supply/demand. Supply of gold is limited by what people earn and demand is limited not only by the appeal of items in the cash shop, but the way in which the asking price (in Gold) for the purchase of Gems relates to the value of the amount of time needed to accumulate that amount of gold.
If a Character slot costs $10 to purchase directly from the cash shop, the selling price in Gold for $10 worth of gems is going to be weighed against the amount of time it takes to aquire that amount of gold.
If the average earning rate of gold, by playing the game, was 1 Gold per hour, then you might expect the exchange rate of gold for $10 worth of gems to be some where between 1 Gold and 4 Gold, depending on how how much value people in game place on their time. No one is going to spend ten hours farming gold to save themselves a $10 purchase in the cash shop! I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would think their time is only worth $1/hour!
It works the other way as well. What if it only took two hours to earn enough gold to buy $10 worth of Gems? For some people, paying $10 for 2 hours of time savings may be worth while, but many people may just prefer spend the two hours farming gold, rather than taking $10 out of their pocket.
You wouldn't find anyone able to sell $10 worth of gems for an amount of gold that would take, say 30 hours of farming, because no one is going to put such a small value on their time. (Would you work for $.33/hour)?
Now, if Gems could be traded back into cash, you might find some third world farming operation willing to put such a low value on their time, but you can't make the conversion. A farmer can't even sell Gems they bought via gold farming for $$$, because you can't trade them face to face or via mail and you can't buy from a particular seller on the in-game Marketplace.
This is why the system combats gold farming so effectively.
So, to sum it up, the exchange value of Gold for Gems in GW2 will be determined by a combination of supply/demand and the inherent limits set by the $$$ value the average player puts on their time.
Why even bother with the exchange at all? Beyond the possible effects on curtailing illegal gold selling?
Well, first, there will likely be people at the two extremes; people with a lot of disposable $$$ and people with an extreme amount of free time, that may find regular Gold for Gem trading worthwhile.
Second, the averaqe player may find an occasional purchase of gems for gold, made with a natural excess of gold, worthwhile for the purchase of some things, like Character Slots.
Third, the legal reason, by having a mechanism to sell an in game currency for $$$, even if via the indirect trade of players of Cash for Gems for Gold, NCSoft/Arenanet gain the legal standing to sue for damages against anyone who attempts to sell in game currency for cash illegally.
I know the alarmists like to throw around the fear that someone willing to drop $50 on gems will somehow be able to buy more Gold than an average players could earn in a couple hundred hours of play, but that just can't happen. No one is going to spend 40 hours farming gold to aquire $10 worth of Cash Shop goods. I'm pretty certain that the exchange rate will probably never exceed something like 3 hours of farming for $10 worth of cash shop items and it may even be lower than that.
No one is going to spend ten hours farming gold to save themselves a $10 purchase in the cash shop! I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would think their time is only worth $1/hour!
No one is going to spend 40 hours farming gold to aquire $10 worth of Cash Shop goods.
In Eve Online entire coorporations (guilds) are making ISKs (gold) to exchange in PLEX with which they can buy gametime. Players can buy PLEX directly from CCP (the devs) and yet there are still a million of PLEX and ISK selling websites.
You also forget that a lot of players live in countries that can not purchase online because Credit Card companies, banks and even Paypal will not accept payments from those countries.
You also forget that people like to see a mmo as a game. Why put extra money in an item if you can get that item yourself in that game yourself? Some people enjoy the feeling that is known as accomplishment. With your philosphy Goldsellers would have been filthy rich and there would not have been enough chinese farmers to meet the total demand.
No one is going to spend ten hours farming gold to save themselves a $10 purchase in the cash shop! I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would think their time is only worth $1/hour!
No one is going to spend 40 hours farming gold to aquire $10 worth of Cash Shop goods.
In Eve Online entire coorporations (guilds) are making ISKs (gold) to exchange in PLEX with which they can buy gametime. Players can buy PLEX directly from CCP (the devs) and yet there are still a million of PLEX and ISK selling websites.
You also forget that a lot of players live in countries that can not purchase online because Credit Card companies, banks and even Paypal will not accept payments from those countries.
You also forget that people like to see a mmo as a game. Why put extra money in an item if you can get that item yourself in that game yourself? Some people enjoy the feeling that is known as accomplishment. With your philosphy Goldsellers would have been filthy rich and there would not have been enough chinese farmers to meet the total demand.
There are no subscription fees for GW2, so there is no way to trade Gems for game time. In Eve, everyone needs to pay a subscription fee, so selling $15 worth of Plex to players looking to cover their mandatory subscription fee for another month is a market with broad, renewing demand. To pay your sub fee with PLEX you purchased with isk, or not, depends on how much you value your time and how much you ISK you can earn per hour in game.
Not only is there a clear cash equivalent based on your ability to avoid a mandatory subscription fee in EVE, but your ability to earn ISK can grow exponentially as you build your in game assetts. In GW2, the rate at which gold earning per hour increases as you level seems low for a fantasy MMORPG and is much lower than the average earning rate growth in EVE. Also, in GW2, once you reach the cap, there will be some absolute cap for gold/hour earnings. You can't buy greater and greater advantages which exponentially increase your ability to earn gold over time.
"Clear cash equivalent" is an important factor as well. If a monthly subscription fee is $15 and everyone needs to subscribe to continue to play, $15 worth of PLEX has an objective value. There are no mandatory purchases in the GW2 cash shop, so demand is much more limited and even though there is a fixed Cash cost for Gems and a fixed Gem cost for Cash Shop goods, the actually value of an item is subjective. Some people may find $1 for a 1 hour Karma boost worth the cost, while others may decide that it's a complete rip-off. The subjective nature of value for cash shop items in GW2 will have an impact on the gold to gem market. If PLEX could not be traded for subscription time in EVE, the market for PLEX would be much more limited.
As far as illicit gold/ISK selling goes, not only are the economics very different in Eve, but the nature of wealth in the game and the way it can be feely and easily traded or laundried makes it much, much easier to carry out illicit trades in-game. It won't be nearly as easy in GW2.
No one is going to spend ten hours farming gold to save themselves a $10 purchase in the cash shop! I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would think their time is only worth $1/hour!
No one is going to spend 40 hours farming gold to aquire $10 worth of Cash Shop goods.
In Eve Online entire coorporations (guilds) are making ISKs (gold) to exchange in PLEX with which they can buy gametime. Players can buy PLEX directly from CCP (the devs) and yet there are still a million of PLEX and ISK selling websites.
You also forget that a lot of players live in countries that can not purchase online because Credit Card companies, banks and even Paypal will not accept payments from those countries.
You also forget that people like to see a mmo as a game. Why put extra money in an item if you can get that item yourself in that game yourself? Some people enjoy the feeling that is known as accomplishment. With your philosphy Goldsellers would have been filthy rich and there would not have been enough chinese farmers to meet the total demand.
There are no subscription fees for GW2, so there is no way to trade Gems for game time. In Eve, everyone needs to pay a subscription fee, so selling $15 worth of Plex to players looking to cover their mandatory subscription fee for another month is a market with broad, renewing demand. To pay your sub fee with PLEX you purchased with isk, or not, depends on how much you value your time and how much you ISK you can earn per hour in game.
Not only is there a clear cash equivalent based on your ability to avoid a mandatory subscription fee in EVE, but your ability to earn ISK can grow exponentially as you build your in game assetts. In GW2, the rate at which gold earning per hour increases as you level seems low for a fantasy MMORPG and is much lower than the average earning rate growth in EVE. Also, in GW2, once you reach the cap, there will be some absolute cap for gold/hour earnings. You can't buy greater and greater advantages which exponentially increase your ability to earn gold over time.
"Clear cash equivalent" is an important factor as well. If a monthly subscription fee is $15 and everyone needs to subscribe to continue to play, $15 worth of PLEX has an objective value. There are no mandatory purchases in the GW2 cash shop, so demand is much more limited and even though there is a fixed Cash cost for Gems and a fixed Gem cost for Cash Shop goods, the actually value of an item is subjective. Some people may find $1 for a 1 hour Karma boost worth the cost, while others may decide that it's a complete rip-off. The subjective nature of value for cash shop items in GW2 will have an impact on the gold to gem market. If PLEX could not be traded for subscription time in EVE, the market for PLEX would be much more limited.
As far as illicit gold/ISK selling goes, not only are the economics very different in Eve, but the nature of wealth in the game and the way it can be feely and easily traded or laundried makes it much, much easier to carry out illicit trades in-game. It won't be nearly as easy in GW2.
You forget the subjective value of PLEX aswell. One can buy PLEX to add more gametime to the account, but it can also be traded for ISKS and with these ISKS you can buy everything ingame. Still the majority of the playerbase chooses to get the ISKS themselves. You're simply ignoring that in Eve there's also a limit on how much money you can make. Once you have the best ship, that's it. You're also ignoring that safety is also a big issue. You're never safe. You can loose your earnings of that day within seconds. You can loose the ship you have worked for in all these months in seconds. Ships can be replaced, but guess what, it will cost you ISKS. The value of ISKS is not based on the rate of getting it, it's based on how much you don't loose in the process of collecting it. So in my opinion "Clear Cash Equivalent" is not the right term to determine the relation between PLEX and ISKS.
I'm simply pointing out that to a lot of players value accomplishment higher than a convient item, while you still are claiming that the value of gold measured in $$$$ will be the biggest factor for buying gems.
we don't know to what extent these kind of gameplay mechanics arenanet is cool with doing outside of attrition mechanics..
Seriously, do you even know THAT much? The people acting like the sky is falling aren't even privy to the product, and especially not the finished product. Whatever use store items have does not counteract the gameplay as some people are pretending, it only makes things convenient for people who don't want to do things only one way. I don't think any of the naysayers have proof of the game having "inconvenient" parts simply to justify a cash shop.
Another poll about this is useless. MMORPG is full of people who like to take a piss on anything, good or bad, because negative opinions get more attention. But people who are concerned about the cash shop to the point they won't play the game are still a very small minority.
If i find a treasure chest in the game I cant open it unless I go to the cash shop and buy a key.
You dont call that an inconvenience?
Its one thing to be a blind fan but some of you just need to accept whats there and admit it sucks.
Is this true?
No, it is not. Just another uninformed troll.
I'm not uninformed..I can read and i got eyes and i saw the cash shop and i read where you had to buy mystical keys to open chests. Sorry to break your heart.....Maybe remove the blinders and you can read it for yourself. Keep trolling misinformation.
You are indeed uninformed. Mystical keys and butler golems which are used to open mystic chests are both obtainable in game. Sorry to break your little troll heart.
Comments
Like they are saying, you are uniformed. First of all drops are personal so no one is gona come and take your loot at any time.
Secondly the chest is an ITEM that you pick and that later you can open with the keys you get from playing the game so you are not losing anything, it just tkes you longer to open the chests, but you can open them all eventually.
thirdly, there is no "very nice weapon" on GW2 because it isnt a grinding game, and that shows you are a talking out of your ass because you know nothing of the game or its predecesor
On behalf of people here, i ask you, stop spreading misinformation.
Actually, you did say that you have to buy a key to open them, which we've learned is not true. Maybe you weren't trolling, but you were obviously misinformed.
I don't see why anyone would have a problem with the cash shop. Countless other subscription MMORPG's have used cash shop for cosmetic purposes. WoW and EQ2 for example. I am perfectly fine with the cash shop and I feel like it will add a little more to the game.
No, the uninformed are those who are saying you can open them all without buying the keys. Now follow closely, and here is the proof:
1) Key drops at lower rate than chests
2) You obtain chests faster than you obtain keys in game
3) As time goes on, you have more and more excess chests
4) At some point, you need to clear the chests out of your inventory
5) You then either need to purchase a key, or throw away the chests losing the content in the chests
Now, maybe you think its fun to be juggling chests all the time in your inventory and grinding for keys, but that very crass game mechanic is the epitomy of the F2P cash shop. With garbage like that, they should not be charging $60 for this game in my opinion. And it also goes against their promise that you pay for the game once and get to see all the content. You do NOT get to see all the content in those chests without paying more money.
I mean, we've all seen egregious things like this in cash shops before, but almost always in F2P games. This is unprecedented in my opinion to charge $60 for this type of cash shop game.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
I'm looking forward to playing the devs ruleset. The CS will be one of those 'rules'. As long as the player can control where they spend their gold/cash then there is no reason for anyone to be concerned.
The power is in the player's hand. You do not have to spend any cash in the CS...at all.
So blizzard is milker company if he ask you for 15$ per month and Anet is not for asking you 15$ for 1200 gems or what ever that is. We have some double standards here
My problem with this line of thinking is that it presumes money is just some unlimited resource. It's like there's no tradeoff. If I'm dying so much that I'm spending $20 a month in just repair kits, that's a waste of money. At the very least it has cut in to any other convenience items I may have wanted.
If someone had enough free time, they could simply fly to town and repair and play this suicide style anyway. Either way, the attrition mechanic is still there. All ANet is saying is, "If you 're dying all the time, you're probably not gonna have a good time".
These chest/key are by far one of the worse items because the promote the cash shop right at your playing level. The guy who hasn't quite understood that its a losing battle may not want to buy keys so maybe he buys some more inventory room instead. I mean thats a more sensible purchase then buy these one time use keys. And they are one time use keys thats why there packaged in lots of 5 and 10 as well.
Beyond that the rng items may quite be the worse, ie the dyes and minis, you can pay cash for a chance to get something you might like or you might hate it. I wouldn't be really happy if i got some nice pink dye.
These same people posting how the cash shop won't affect them will be the same ones screaming on the forums their inventory is full of mystic chests and everytime they earn a key they end up with 2 more chests. And how Anet slapped them in the face when this is the time to say something about it.
While this can be true, in a game where people are complaining that 15 silver for a respec fee is to much cause it requires 30 minutes worth of mob trash to obtain that money and level 10 events give you a wooping 1-2 silvers.
Where is the real value in that item? The time saver or the gold saver.
It takes roughly 20-30 minutes to earn 15 silver... how will we be rolling in the gold?
My problem with this line of thinking is that it presumes money is just some unlimited resource. It's like there's no tradeoff. If I'm dying so much that I'm spending $20 a month in just repair kits, that's a waste of money. At the very least it has cut in to any other convenience items I may have wanted.
If someone had enough free time, they could simply fly to town and repair and play this suicide style anyway. Either way, the attrition mechanic is still there. All ANet is saying is, "If you 're dying all the time, you're probably not gonna have a good time".
While this can be true, in a game where people are complaining that 15 silver for a respec fee is to much cause it requires 30 minutes worth of mob trash to obtain that money and level 10 events give you a wooping 1-2 silvers.
Where is the real value in that item? The time saver or the gold saver.
That's all hearsay. It's the problem with this entire witch hunt. ANet has demonstrated they can run an effective shop once already. That's really all we know. Some skepticism is fine, but this has turned into something else altogether.
Actually this isn't hearsay its what Elizabeth from massively found while she was playing the game. This is how the game is right now. You can check out her q&a if you don't wanna take my word from it.
What you say is true, but I bet Guild Wars 2 cost a hell of a lot more money to develop than it did for Guild Wars 1, so I assume they will find other additional ways to make money than just from box sales. Buying gems for money is one of them, which was something that was never implemented in Guild Wars 1 cash shops.
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Work the AH. Sell those mystic chests, sell crafting materials, sell equipment you can't use, do quests...
Instead of filling up your bags with stuff...sell frequently. The gold will build quickly.
Most of the trash drops you get sell for copper, even with an hour in a level 30 dungeon she only got roughly 50 silver. At this rate money is gonna be much harder to obtain then your typical mmo or atleast the ones I've been playing lately.
At level 10 an event is worth 1-2 silver..
That made to much sense so most probably stopped reading at point number 4.
They know this, they just wont admit it. But thats how game fan are.
You can have the same cash shop discussion on the Runes of magic forum, or Allods forum or any f2p forum and people will tell you that you dont need to spend a dime to play. Most will admit you need to spend to have fun and not be inconvenienced..but not to play. But when it comes to GW2 fans wont admit it...and they'll still pay $60 for a box..
After this game launches we never have to ever hear another person say anything bad about f2p cash shops.
It will be different when the game goes live. You'll have a full server and a lot of buyers. Gold won't be a problem.
Then don't open the chest, what is your problem.
Its not that important, but if your that eager to open it you go ahead. If you can't buy a key in the AH you buy it in the CS. In GW1 they also had chests that needed keys, I never had them and it never bothered me.
So much cry about 0.01% of something you don't like about this game.
I dont like pink dyes, do I think that ruins the game for me? nah, there are always people that like it or not. Just don't make it such a big deal.
Cup half full or cup half empty.. I know what yours is.
Some people just don't get the basics.
Since the only way to get Gold for $$$ is to buy gems with $$$ and sell the Gems on the in-game marketplace for Gold, the rate at which gold is earned in the game will have a direct impact on the exchange rate. This effects the equation of supply/demand. Supply of gold is limited by what people earn and demand is limited not only by the appeal of items in the cash shop, but the way in which the asking price (in Gold) for the purchase of Gems relates to the value of the amount of time needed to accumulate that amount of gold.
If a Character slot costs $10 to purchase directly from the cash shop, the selling price in Gold for $10 worth of gems is going to be weighed against the amount of time it takes to aquire that amount of gold.
If the average earning rate of gold, by playing the game, was 1 Gold per hour, then you might expect the exchange rate of gold for $10 worth of gems to be some where between 1 Gold and 4 Gold, depending on how how much value people in game place on their time. No one is going to spend ten hours farming gold to save themselves a $10 purchase in the cash shop! I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that would think their time is only worth $1/hour!
It works the other way as well. What if it only took two hours to earn enough gold to buy $10 worth of Gems? For some people, paying $10 for 2 hours of time savings may be worth while, but many people may just prefer spend the two hours farming gold, rather than taking $10 out of their pocket.
You wouldn't find anyone able to sell $10 worth of gems for an amount of gold that would take, say 30 hours of farming, because no one is going to put such a small value on their time. (Would you work for $.33/hour)?
Now, if Gems could be traded back into cash, you might find some third world farming operation willing to put such a low value on their time, but you can't make the conversion. A farmer can't even sell Gems they bought via gold farming for $$$, because you can't trade them face to face or via mail and you can't buy from a particular seller on the in-game Marketplace.
This is why the system combats gold farming so effectively.
So, to sum it up, the exchange value of Gold for Gems in GW2 will be determined by a combination of supply/demand and the inherent limits set by the $$$ value the average player puts on their time.
Why even bother with the exchange at all? Beyond the possible effects on curtailing illegal gold selling?
Well, first, there will likely be people at the two extremes; people with a lot of disposable $$$ and people with an extreme amount of free time, that may find regular Gold for Gem trading worthwhile.
Second, the averaqe player may find an occasional purchase of gems for gold, made with a natural excess of gold, worthwhile for the purchase of some things, like Character Slots.
Third, the legal reason, by having a mechanism to sell an in game currency for $$$, even if via the indirect trade of players of Cash for Gems for Gold, NCSoft/Arenanet gain the legal standing to sue for damages against anyone who attempts to sell in game currency for cash illegally.
I know the alarmists like to throw around the fear that someone willing to drop $50 on gems will somehow be able to buy more Gold than an average players could earn in a couple hundred hours of play, but that just can't happen. No one is going to spend 40 hours farming gold to aquire $10 worth of Cash Shop goods. I'm pretty certain that the exchange rate will probably never exceed something like 3 hours of farming for $10 worth of cash shop items and it may even be lower than that.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
In Eve Online entire coorporations (guilds) are making ISKs (gold) to exchange in PLEX with which they can buy gametime. Players can buy PLEX directly from CCP (the devs) and yet there are still a million of PLEX and ISK selling websites.
You also forget that a lot of players live in countries that can not purchase online because Credit Card companies, banks and even Paypal will not accept payments from those countries.
You also forget that people like to see a mmo as a game. Why put extra money in an item if you can get that item yourself in that game yourself? Some people enjoy the feeling that is known as accomplishment. With your philosphy Goldsellers would have been filthy rich and there would not have been enough chinese farmers to meet the total demand.
There are no subscription fees for GW2, so there is no way to trade Gems for game time. In Eve, everyone needs to pay a subscription fee, so selling $15 worth of Plex to players looking to cover their mandatory subscription fee for another month is a market with broad, renewing demand. To pay your sub fee with PLEX you purchased with isk, or not, depends on how much you value your time and how much you ISK you can earn per hour in game.
Not only is there a clear cash equivalent based on your ability to avoid a mandatory subscription fee in EVE, but your ability to earn ISK can grow exponentially as you build your in game assetts. In GW2, the rate at which gold earning per hour increases as you level seems low for a fantasy MMORPG and is much lower than the average earning rate growth in EVE. Also, in GW2, once you reach the cap, there will be some absolute cap for gold/hour earnings. You can't buy greater and greater advantages which exponentially increase your ability to earn gold over time.
"Clear cash equivalent" is an important factor as well. If a monthly subscription fee is $15 and everyone needs to subscribe to continue to play, $15 worth of PLEX has an objective value. There are no mandatory purchases in the GW2 cash shop, so demand is much more limited and even though there is a fixed Cash cost for Gems and a fixed Gem cost for Cash Shop goods, the actually value of an item is subjective. Some people may find $1 for a 1 hour Karma boost worth the cost, while others may decide that it's a complete rip-off. The subjective nature of value for cash shop items in GW2 will have an impact on the gold to gem market. If PLEX could not be traded for subscription time in EVE, the market for PLEX would be much more limited.
As far as illicit gold/ISK selling goes, not only are the economics very different in Eve, but the nature of wealth in the game and the way it can be feely and easily traded or laundried makes it much, much easier to carry out illicit trades in-game. It won't be nearly as easy in GW2.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
woooow you can buy medium gear with alot of dollars..
who cares
Guild wars 2 relies waaay more on skills then on gear, so any low geared guy who knows his class will still own you hard,,,
https://ashesofcreation.com/r/Y4U3PQCASUPJ5SED
You forget the subjective value of PLEX aswell. One can buy PLEX to add more gametime to the account, but it can also be traded for ISKS and with these ISKS you can buy everything ingame. Still the majority of the playerbase chooses to get the ISKS themselves. You're simply ignoring that in Eve there's also a limit on how much money you can make. Once you have the best ship, that's it. You're also ignoring that safety is also a big issue. You're never safe. You can loose your earnings of that day within seconds. You can loose the ship you have worked for in all these months in seconds. Ships can be replaced, but guess what, it will cost you ISKS. The value of ISKS is not based on the rate of getting it, it's based on how much you don't loose in the process of collecting it. So in my opinion "Clear Cash Equivalent" is not the right term to determine the relation between PLEX and ISKS.
I'm simply pointing out that to a lot of players value accomplishment higher than a convient item, while you still are claiming that the value of gold measured in $$$$ will be the biggest factor for buying gems.
You are indeed uninformed. Mystical keys and butler golems which are used to open mystic chests are both obtainable in game. Sorry to break your little troll heart.