No it is not subscribtion based is traditional, buy to play will always be around as long as single player games are buy to play.
And no these concepts are an excuse to rip people off it is not some excuse to hang on to the past because people are tired of trash mmos milking every penny but nice try.
Not quite sure I understand your point - apologies - however:
Subscriptions - in the sense that we are talking about - only came in with UO, EQ1 etc. And they didn't include any content; that was B2P. And the sub was to cover the high network costs back then: servers, server software, techs etc. Costs that the traditional box price could not cover.
Costs were always headed down, AC introduced small monthly updates and by the time CoH launched in 2004 the "what are we paying a sub for " posts were common. So NCSoft pushed the AC model: content with the sub, no need to buy expansions every 6 months (EQ1) or year (DAoC).
Than a year after they launched GW1 proving that things were back to normal with the box price able to cover the costs. 6 years basically. Subs since then - well I hope the games produced lots of new content. Lots and lots since running costs are - relatively - small. (Sadly I think a lot of subs have been trying to make up for poor sales; poor sales arguably resulting from having a sub!)
So if I bought the base game before it was free, will I still have those restrictions?
No those restrictions are only for ppl that are playing for free. Still if you buy expansion it will be same as if you bought original but you get both unlocks and expansion in 1 package. Everyone needs to pay for expansion both free players and ppl that bought original GW2.
Honestly i welcome that original is now free because there is so many games i didnt even bother trying because there is so many xpacs i need to buy before getting ''complete game''. This keeps it simple and easy for new players to join.
And for those of you complaining about being shafted for paying original that is free now well your logic is flawed cause otherwise you would have had to wait 3 years for it to become free and by that logic let's all wait for another 3 years for new xpac so we can get HoT for free. Get fucking real.
Downloaded yesterday....You get the annoying icon at the bottom right hand corner that constantly pops up asking to upgrade to the expansion....You have hardly any inventory space and apparently cant join a guild....Also limited in chat to say and whispers.....The site also loads on some other garbage even if you tell it not to.....So far not very impressed but the game does have alot of players.
You need to represent the guild after you join since you can be in up to 5 guilds.
So go to the guild menu, select the guild you want to represent and should have a option to represent or stand down, unless it is a bug or something.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
For one the game is still B2P as you really can't progress into end game without buying HoT. How this fact is lost on your part, I'm not sure. It's no more f2p than it used to be really, more of a free trial, but better. People were buying the core game on Amazon for $5 anyway.
That's like saying AOC isn't a F2P title because the end game content is hidden behind a sub paywall (ROTGS).
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
For one the game is still B2P as you really can't progress into end game without buying HoT. How this fact is lost on your part, I'm not sure. It's no more f2p than it used to be really, more of a free trial, but better. People were buying the core game on Amazon for $5 anyway.
That's like saying AOC isn't a F2P title because the end game content is hidden behind a sub paywall (ROTGS).
That's why, for me at least, our overly broad simple terms just don't work anymore. The most accurate term currently seems to be hybrid. A game will have a list of features. It will have a list of ways to pay for it. Life is just a little more complicated that way now.
Does your game have a cash shop? Is there a subscription? Is it optional or mandatory? Does it have RMT currency tokens (PLEX/Rex/Krono)? Does it have a bartered secondary/tertiary RMT currency (Gems, Dilithium, etc).
Same with multiplayer and game features. Is the world persistent? Is the campaign world finite (it ends ala Crowfall)? Does it have servers or single server tech? How are skills and character progression defined? How is content executed?
Words like P2P, F2P, B2P, Themepark, Sandbox, and such are traditional boxes that just aren't adequate to contain the reality of what we're dealing with. At least that's how I see it.
I can agree with most of this for sure. To me though, all F2P has ever meant was there was no upfront cost to start playing the core aspects of the game (1-50, 1-80, etc..). That's the change A-net made from my perspective.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
F2P has a bad connotation. F2P used to be sub standard games full of pay to win. Then we started to have failed games (at least as financial model was originally planned) become F2P.
GW2 is now free to play. But it is neither substandard nor does it seem to be in financial problems or population problems.
Games are not good or bad because they are subscription based, buy to play or free to play. They are good or bad on their own merits.
It is a moot discussion other than some GW2 haters trying to use this decision by Anet to claim GW2 is failing or dying or sinking.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Downloaded yesterday....You get the annoying icon at the bottom right hand corner that constantly pops up asking to upgrade to the expansion....You have hardly any inventory space and apparently cant join a guild....Also limited in chat to say and whispers.....The site also loads on some other garbage even if you tell it not to.....So far not very impressed but the game does have alot of players.
Downloaded yesterday....You get the annoying icon at the bottom right hand corner that constantly pops up asking to upgrade to the expansion....You have hardly any inventory space and apparently cant join a guild....Also limited in chat to say and whispers.....The site also loads on some other garbage even if you tell it not to.....So far not very impressed but the game does have alot of players.
You can join a guild and this game is far less restrictive then any free to play game I have ever seen who cares about general chat anyways its always crap.
Seems pretty reasonable and on par compared to other F2P models with optional Member/Subscription.
"
First, free accounts start with
fewer character slots and bag slots than the paid version of the game.
But they still get the full complement of slots as soon as they buy Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.
Second, free accounts have some chat restrictions and economy
restrictions so that they can’t be used to disrupt the game for other
players. Free accounts can use local chat and whispers, but not map
chat. With whispers, they can both start new conversations and reply to
existing conversations but are limited to starting new conversations no
more than once every 30 seconds. Free accounts can buy and sell common
goods on the trading post. They can’t mail gold or items directly to
other players, trade gold for gems, or access guild vaults.
Third, free accounts have some restrictions to prevent them from
skipping ahead to places where they could be used to disrupt the game.
They must play to level 10 before leaving the starter zones, to level 30
before using LFG, and to level 60 before using World vs. World. They
can play PvP immediately but must get to rank 20 before using custom and
unranked arenas."
Seems pretty reasonable and on par compared to other F2P models with optional Member/Subscription.
"
First, free accounts start with
fewer character slots and bag slots than the paid version of the game.
But they still get the full complement of slots as soon as they buy Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.
Second, free accounts have some chat restrictions and economy
restrictions so that they can’t be used to disrupt the game for other
players. Free accounts can use local chat and whispers, but not map
chat. With whispers, they can both start new conversations and reply to
existing conversations but are limited to starting new conversations no
more than once every 30 seconds. Free accounts can buy and sell common
goods on the trading post. They can’t mail gold or items directly to
other players, trade gold for gems, or access guild vaults.
Third, free accounts have some restrictions to prevent them from
skipping ahead to places where they could be used to disrupt the game.
They must play to level 10 before leaving the starter zones, to level 30
before using LFG, and to level 60 before using World vs. World. They
can play PvP immediately but must get to rank 20 before using custom and
unranked arenas."
Ouch so we cannot buy and sell decent items on trade?
This whole "F2P for core game" is nothing but a glorified trial. Deal with it. No need to drama spin it around. I find it kinda nice. Now all my friends that previously missed on the 10$ sales and didn't want to shell out 50$ for a game that they might not like are playing with me already. Fun stuff. Carried them through dungeons. Mostly soloing them because they have around 500 achievement points. Nobody is good in this game at 500 AP ... nobody. Even MMO vets suck at 500 AP. Fact.
If I cared about punctuation I might try but seeing how I'm on the internet writing in a forum I could care less. This is not a test like in your high school but I know people like you get off correcting others because it gives you attention something you don't get in real life.If you cant understand what I am writing or cant read it then you need to go back to school. Here have some flowers..
How can you expect others to to treat your post as an intelligent point, when you can't be bothered to learn to express said point clearly, or properly? For one the game is still B2P as you really can't progress into end game without buying HoT. How this fact is lost on your part, I'm not sure. It's no more f2p than it used to be really, more of a free trial, but better. People were buying the core game on Amazon for $5 anyway.
PS: When you say you could care less, it should be couldn't care less, which means you can't possibly care any less on the care meter.
Care meter (0------------------50------------------100 )
Zero means you couldn't care any less than zero. 50 means you could care less, (but you care just a little bit more than zero), 100 means you care all the way; easy concept really. The only person needing to go back to school here though, is you.
Your right i am going to go back to school so you guys will understand what I write thanks for the heads up. Have a great day!
This whole "F2P for core game" is nothing but a glorified trial. Deal with it. No need to drama spin it around. I find it kinda nice. Now all my friends that previously missed on the 10$ sales and didn't want to shell out 50$ for a game that they might not like are playing with me already. Fun stuff. Carried them through dungeons. Mostly soloing them because they have around 500 achievement points. Nobody is good in this game at 500 AP ... nobody. Even MMO vets suck at 500 AP. Fact.
This whole "F2P for core game" is nothing but a glorified trial. Deal with it. No need to drama spin it around. I find it kinda nice. Now all my friends that previously missed on the 10$ sales and didn't want to shell out 50$ for a game that they might not like are playing with me already. Fun stuff. Carried them through dungeons. Mostly soloing them because they have around 500 achievement points. Nobody is good in this game at 500 AP ... nobody. Even MMO vets suck at 500 AP. Fact.
Suck might be a too strong word, some people get into things faster than others. Funny enough is my experience that the friends I got with no prior MMO experience actually got into the game way faster then the ones who played a lot of Wow or similar games.
Maybe it is because those guys actually asked me to teach them how group dynamics works and constantly wanted tips.
But having someone like you teaching them the ropes helps a lot.
This whole "F2P for core game" is nothing but a glorified trial. Deal with it. No need to drama spin it around. I find it kinda nice. Now all my friends that previously missed on the 10$ sales and didn't want to shell out 50$ for a game that they might not like are playing with me already. Fun stuff. Carried them through dungeons. Mostly soloing them because they have around 500 achievement points. Nobody is good in this game at 500 AP ... nobody. Even MMO vets suck at 500 AP. Fact.
Suck might be a too strong word, some people get into things faster than others. Funny enough is my experience that the friends I got with no prior MMO experience actually got into the game way faster then the ones who played a lot of Wow or similar games.
Maybe it is because those guys actually asked me to teach them how group dynamics works and constantly wanted tips.
But having someone like you teaching them the ropes helps a lot.
It's actually funny to see their brains freeze when i start talking about combo fields and ways of blasting them or whatever finishers. See to me that's a braindead concept ... see a combo field -> process what type of field it is -> figure whether you should blast it, leap through it or just shoot projectiles to gain benefit. Most people stop listening, even though each skill is defined by its skillfact what type of combo skill it is (if it is).
So that makes things harder. Also they still can't figure what types of attacks to dodge through, which is understandable since they meet most of the enemy creatures for the first time.
Ain't easy though :U
So yeah, hopefully you understand why I'm skeptical toward people having opinion about the combat without even reaching 1000 achievement points in this forum.
If ANet extended the 1-5 second buff duration on combo fields people would probably pay more attention to them. As it stands the majority of people probably think the effort isn't worth the gain.
We reached the monetise everything and anything stage some years ago. Casino style play is the latest area MMO companies have moved into to my knowledge. With diamonds, gems whatever and lock boxes. But we should all know it won't stop there, they will find something else to charge for or get you to want to pay for.
The issue for me is that there seems no concern for the effect on gameplay now, if it makes money do it, regardless.
But on the other hand GW2 is a good example where game play is not affected by the gem store.
Just checked what is in the store, lots of skins which is good. But there is loads of gameplay effecting items from XP buffs to PvP Reward Track Gains to this:
Permanent Crow Finisher: "Crush your opponents with a falling cow finishing move in PvP and WvW. This is a permanent account unlock."
Now maybe that does not have the unbalancing effect I think it does, but the buff potions are already gameplay breaking in my eyes.
We reached the monetise everything and anything stage some years ago. Casino style play is the latest area MMO companies have moved into to my knowledge. With diamonds, gems whatever and lock boxes. But we should all know it won't stop there, they will find something else to charge for or get you to want to pay for.
The issue for me is that there seems no concern for the effect on gameplay now, if it makes money do it, regardless.
But on the other hand GW2 is a good example where game play is not affected by the gem store.
Just checked what is in the store, lots of skins which is good. But there is loads of gameplay effecting items from XP buffs to PvP Reward Track Gains to this:
Permanent Crow Finisher: "Crush your opponents with a falling cow finishing move in PvP and WvW. This is a permanent account unlock."
Now maybe that does not have the unbalancing effect I think it does, but the buff potions are already gameplay breaking in my eyes.
Regarding the finisher, it is just an ''animation skin''. In GW2 PvP, you tend to finish your opponent when they are in down-state by clicking F more or less. The ''Cow finisher'' just makes the animation look cooler.
Regarding the buffs, true. However, GW2 is a game where it is considerably easy to level up and get PvP rewards, so the buffs, while they could affect gameplay, are hardly a concern because people don't really care about them. The main reason for that is apparently that most rewards are cosmetic and therefore people don't bother racing to level up or get some fluff. I don't think the boosts in the gem store are as much of a concern as some people believe they are. When you play the game more, you will notice that most of these boosts are quite useless, lol.
As a GW2 player, I would say that the ''worst'' option in Gem store is Gem exchange. You can basically exchange gems for gold and buy stuff with cash. It means that a person who is really willing to spends thousends of dollars can pretty much pay money to buy everything. In Anet's defence, there are 3 things that make this Gem exchange less ''pay 2 win'' than what it seems. 1. It is easy to get gold ingame. If you are commited to farm, it may seems stupid to waste hundreds of dollars for soemthing that you can farm in a couple of days. 2. Most things you can buy with gold are cosmetics. Skins, fluff etc. Legendary weapons are the only thing you can buy with the gold you get with cash. Legendary weapons does give you stats boost indeed, however, you can get the same stats with ascended weapons that you can get in a couple of days. Ascended armor is locked behind time-locks, so it doesn't matter if you have money or not for the most part. 3. The Gem exchange thing also give players the chance to exchange gold for gems and buy skins in the gem store which is great. If you are a daily GW2 players, you will find no problem buying anything in the store with gold.
At the end of the day, the store is quite user-friendly so far. Some stuff may give players an advantage however due to the game's focus on skins and fluff, it is mostly not important and people hardly bother complaining about these things. The biggest complaint with the gemstore amongst the community is the fact that Anet tends to pour alot of stuff into it sometimes (skins) instead of putting them ingame. Some people complain that such focus on the gemstore is stale since people have to always farm gold instead of playing ''challenging content'' to get these rewards. Since then, Anet has added skins through living story according to player suggestions, however, alot of skins still get introcuded to the store, which maybe a good or a bad thing based on ur point of view.
Sorry for the wall of text, wanted to explain my opinion on the gemstore of GW2 xD
We reached the monetise everything and anything stage some years ago. Casino style play is the latest area MMO companies have moved into to my knowledge. With diamonds, gems whatever and lock boxes. But we should all know it won't stop there, they will find something else to charge for or get you to want to pay for.
The issue for me is that there seems no concern for the effect on gameplay now, if it makes money do it, regardless.
But on the other hand GW2 is a good example where game play is not affected by the gem store.
Just checked what is in the store, lots of skins which is good. But there is loads of gameplay effecting items from XP buffs to PvP Reward Track Gains to this:
Permanent Crow Finisher: "Crush your opponents with a falling cow finishing move in PvP and WvW. This is a permanent account unlock."
Now maybe that does not have the unbalancing effect I think it does, but the buff potions are already gameplay breaking in my eyes.
As it was said before the finisher is just a graphical animation over the default finisher everyone has. Finishing an opponent is generally called stomping.
Who cares about the XP boosters? Biggest waste of money in the gem store.
The PvP reward track is just non power related rewards. Everyone at sPvP has the same stats and access to the same gear.
It is a good model.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Now maybe that does not have the unbalancing effect I think it does, but the buff potions are already gameplay breaking in my eyes.
I have a lot of problems with how the game is being managed lately but that claim of an inbalance because of exp buffs is hilarious. Any new player can reach max level within a week if they grind hard - a month if they go slow and casual. Any vet can create a new character and hit max level within a minute from having stacked up these: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tome_of_Knowledge I have 300 of those and don't know what to do with them. Most people farmed them to turn the new class to max level instantly once it arrives.
And the pvp reward track bonus - the reward track gives you armor and weapons of specific skins which can't be sold. How is that game breaking?
We reached the monetise everything and anything stage some years ago. Casino style play is the latest area MMO companies have moved into to my knowledge. With diamonds, gems whatever and lock boxes. But we should all know it won't stop there, they will find something else to charge for or get you to want to pay for.
The issue for me is that there seems no concern for the effect on gameplay now, if it makes money do it, regardless.
But on the other hand GW2 is a good example where game play is not affected by the gem store.
Just checked what is in the store, lots of skins which is good. But there is loads of gameplay effecting items from XP buffs to PvP Reward Track Gains to this:
Permanent Crow Finisher: "Crush your opponents with a falling cow finishing move in PvP and WvW. This is a permanent account unlock."
Now maybe that does not have the unbalancing effect I think it does, but the buff potions are already gameplay breaking in my eyes.
You can get to 80 in a week if you try hard. My brother got 2 characters in 2 weeks to 80 - a necro and an engi. Getting max lvl in Guild Wars 2 is not where the game ends. And being max level definitely doesn't make you more powerful than others.
There is a 5% damage boost for sale in the store last I checked.
However, for the other endgame and lack of pve challenge that gw2 has, I think they have a food, solid, and mostly fair monetization model; probably what I would consider very close to my ideal. I only wish they would dump LS so they wouldn't be stretched tho on upgrading gameplay which has just been massively stagnant in gw2.
Suck might be a too strong word, some people get into things faster than others. Funny enough is my experience that the friends I got with no prior MMO experience actually got into the game way faster then the ones who played a lot of Wow or similar games.
Maybe it is because those guys actually asked me to teach them how group dynamics works and constantly wanted tips.
But having someone like you teaching them the ropes helps a lot.
It's actually funny to see their brains freeze when i start talking about combo fields and ways of blasting them or whatever finishers. See to me that's a braindead concept ... see a combo field -> process what type of field it is -> figure whether you should blast it, leap through it or just shoot projectiles to gain benefit. Most people stop listening, even though each skill is defined by its skillfact what type of combo skill it is (if it is).
So that makes things harder. Also they still can't figure what types of attacks to dodge through, which is understandable since they meet most of the enemy creatures for the first time.
Ain't easy though :U
So yeah, hopefully you understand why I'm skeptical toward people having opinion about the combat without even reaching 1000 achievement points in this forum.
Yeah, there are many players with far more achivement points that don't get combo fields. And it certainly is the hardest thing to learn noobs together with the exact timing of dodging certain bosses.
However, 5 warriors without anything giving combo fields can still complete close to everything in the game at this moment.The difficulty nerf between the first and second beta weeks did that as well as the later dungeon difficulty nerfs.
Not using combo fields make things harder but rarely impossible. To be good you need to be able to understand the mechanics, but being good isn't the same as not sucking.
There is a 5% damage boost for sale in the store last I checked.
However, for the other endgame and lack of pve challenge that gw2 has, I think they have a food, solid, and mostly fair monetization model; probably what I would consider very close to my ideal. I only wish they would dump LS so they wouldn't be stretched tho on upgrading gameplay which has just been massively stagnant in gw2.
They don't sell it directly (with the exception of the fleet pact pack was only available for a short period of time). They do drop from the black lion chests though.
Can't be used in competitive pvp and otherwise is mostly useless.
Currently playing: GW2 Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Comments
Here is the restricions.
Subscriptions - in the sense that we are talking about - only came in with UO, EQ1 etc. And they didn't include any content; that was B2P. And the sub was to cover the high network costs back then: servers, server software, techs etc. Costs that the traditional box price could not cover.
Costs were always headed down, AC introduced small monthly updates and by the time CoH launched in 2004 the "what are we paying a sub for " posts were common. So NCSoft pushed the AC model: content with the sub, no need to buy expansions every 6 months (EQ1) or year (DAoC).
Than a year after they launched GW1 proving that things were back to normal with the box price able to cover the costs. 6 years basically. Subs since then - well I hope the games produced lots of new content. Lots and lots since running costs are - relatively - small. (Sadly I think a lot of subs have been trying to make up for poor sales; poor sales arguably resulting from having a sub!)
Still if you buy expansion it will be same as if you bought original but you get both unlocks and expansion in 1 package.
Everyone needs to pay for expansion both free players and ppl that bought original GW2.
Honestly i welcome that original is now free because there is so many games i didnt even bother trying because there is so many xpacs i need to buy before getting ''complete game''.
This keeps it simple and easy for new players to join.
And for those of you complaining about being shafted for paying original that is free now well your logic is flawed cause otherwise you would have had to wait 3 years for it to become free and by that logic let's all wait for another 3 years for new xpac so we can get HoT for free.
Get fucking real.
So go to the guild menu, select the guild you want to represent and should have a option to represent or stand down, unless it is a bug or something.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
F2P has a bad connotation. F2P used to be sub standard games full of pay to win.
Then we started to have failed games (at least as financial model was originally planned) become F2P.
GW2 is now free to play. But it is neither substandard nor does it seem to be in financial problems or population problems.
Games are not good or bad because they are subscription based, buy to play or free to play. They are good or bad on their own merits.
It is a moot discussion other than some GW2 haters trying to use this decision by Anet to claim GW2 is failing or dying or sinking.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
You can join a guild and this game is far less restrictive then any free to play game I have ever seen who cares about general chat anyways its always crap.
"
First, free accounts start with fewer character slots and bag slots than the paid version of the game. But they still get the full complement of slots as soon as they buy Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.
Second, free accounts have some chat restrictions and economy restrictions so that they can’t be used to disrupt the game for other players. Free accounts can use local chat and whispers, but not map chat. With whispers, they can both start new conversations and reply to existing conversations but are limited to starting new conversations no more than once every 30 seconds. Free accounts can buy and sell common goods on the trading post. They can’t mail gold or items directly to other players, trade gold for gems, or access guild vaults.
Third, free accounts have some restrictions to prevent them from skipping ahead to places where they could be used to disrupt the game. They must play to level 10 before leaving the starter zones, to level 30 before using LFG, and to level 60 before using World vs. World. They can play PvP immediately but must get to rank 20 before using custom and unranked arenas."
You're
Maybe it is because those guys actually asked me to teach them how group dynamics works and constantly wanted tips.
But having someone like you teaching them the ropes helps a lot.
So that makes things harder. Also they still can't figure what types of attacks to dodge through, which is understandable since they meet most of the enemy creatures for the first time.
Ain't easy though :U
So yeah, hopefully you understand why I'm skeptical toward people having opinion about the combat without even reaching 1000 achievement points in this forum.
Just checked what is in the store, lots of skins which is good. But there is loads of gameplay effecting items from XP buffs to PvP Reward Track Gains to this:
Permanent Crow Finisher: "Crush your opponents with a falling cow finishing move in PvP and WvW. This is a permanent account unlock."
Now maybe that does not have the unbalancing effect I think it does, but the buff potions are already gameplay breaking in my eyes.
Regarding the finisher, it is just an ''animation skin''. In GW2 PvP, you tend to finish your opponent when they are in down-state by clicking F more or less. The ''Cow finisher'' just makes the animation look cooler.
Regarding the buffs, true. However, GW2 is a game where it is considerably easy to level up and get PvP rewards, so the buffs, while they could affect gameplay, are hardly a concern because people don't really care about them. The main reason for that is apparently that most rewards are cosmetic and therefore people don't bother racing to level up or get some fluff. I don't think the boosts in the gem store are as much of a concern as some people believe they are. When you play the game more, you will notice that most of these boosts are quite useless, lol.
As a GW2 player, I would say that the ''worst'' option in Gem store is Gem exchange. You can basically exchange gems for gold and buy stuff with cash. It means that a person who is really willing to spends thousends of dollars can pretty much pay money to buy everything. In Anet's defence, there are 3 things that make this Gem exchange less ''pay 2 win'' than what it seems. 1. It is easy to get gold ingame. If you are commited to farm, it may seems stupid to waste hundreds of dollars for soemthing that you can farm in a couple of days. 2. Most things you can buy with gold are cosmetics. Skins, fluff etc. Legendary weapons are the only thing you can buy with the gold you get with cash. Legendary weapons does give you stats boost indeed, however, you can get the same stats with ascended weapons that you can get in a couple of days. Ascended armor is locked behind time-locks, so it doesn't matter if you have money or not for the most part. 3. The Gem exchange thing also give players the chance to exchange gold for gems and buy skins in the gem store which is great. If you are a daily GW2 players, you will find no problem buying anything in the store with gold.
At the end of the day, the store is quite user-friendly so far. Some stuff may give players an advantage however due to the game's focus on skins and fluff, it is mostly not important and people hardly bother complaining about these things. The biggest complaint with the gemstore amongst the community is the fact that Anet tends to pour alot of stuff into it sometimes (skins) instead of putting them ingame. Some people complain that such focus on the gemstore is stale since people have to always farm gold instead of playing ''challenging content'' to get these rewards. Since then, Anet has added skins through living story according to player suggestions, however, alot of skins still get introcuded to the store, which maybe a good or a bad thing based on ur point of view.
Sorry for the wall of text, wanted to explain my opinion on the gemstore of GW2 xD
Who cares about the XP boosters?
Biggest waste of money in the gem store.
The PvP reward track is just non power related rewards.
Everyone at sPvP has the same stats and access to the same gear.
It is a good model.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
Any new player can reach max level within a week if they grind hard - a month if they go slow and casual.
Any vet can create a new character and hit max level within a minute from having stacked up these:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tome_of_Knowledge
I have 300 of those and don't know what to do with them. Most people farmed them to turn the new class to max level instantly once it arrives.
And the pvp reward track bonus - the reward track gives you armor and weapons of specific skins which can't be sold. How is that game breaking?
There is a 5% damage boost for sale in the store last I checked.
However, for the other endgame and lack of pve challenge that gw2 has, I think they have a food, solid, and mostly fair monetization model; probably what I would consider very close to my ideal. I only wish they would dump LS so they wouldn't be stretched tho on upgrading gameplay which has just been massively stagnant in gw2.
Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.
However, 5 warriors without anything giving combo fields can still complete close to everything in the game at this moment.The difficulty nerf between the first and second beta weeks did that as well as the later dungeon difficulty nerfs.
Not using combo fields make things harder but rarely impossible. To be good you need to be able to understand the mechanics, but being good isn't the same as not sucking.
Can't be used in competitive pvp and otherwise is mostly useless.
Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders