Vigilant Walrus
Member
I demand PLAYABLE QUAGGANS.
YES. YESS.
YES. YESS.
-
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Guild Wars 2 |OT2| Funding An MMO Entirely On Quaggan Backpacks
- Thread starter Teknopathetic
- Start date
- Status
Alright, I haven't talked about the Guardian Radiant Scepter build in a while. Stuff with life, but also because I don't like playing it. Why? It's a glass cannon, but I haven't gotten to the point where I can get a kill in under 5 seconds. I'll need to tweak some things in PvP, but without all the traits and such my WvW forays have gone awesome when in a party, and horrible when alone. There just isn't enough innate survivability/escapability in the Guardian unless you build for Toughness or Healing Power. I've been considering for a while how much I lose if I do the build with Rabid armor rather than Rampager...
Moving on, here's the current setup: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAr/OlYgSCHECQcCJTBAcgWPIIEyfqUEP6DA;TkAg1Cqo4xwjgHLPOek8MEA
20/30/0/0/20. Runes of the Flame Legion. Only one sigil decided on, which is the Sigil of Smoldering. Overall, 50% extra burn duration, 800 damage for every second of burning, and 25% more damage on burning foes (along with 5% extra damage for just using a scepter). On top of this, your crit chance is 77%. Get a buddy with Fury, if possible.
I left a utility and a major trait slot blank, because those two are changed depending on the situation. If I'm in a party with lots of combo finishers (preferrably projectile), then that third slot has a consecration skill, and I use the trait Consecrated Ground that gives Consecrations ground targetting. Then I'll pop one down, also get a fire combo field, and help my allies out. When the party can't help with the burning fun, then I'll use some other utility (often a stun break) and then usually run with Unscathed Contender, which can be really powerful if you surprise someone and keep them locked down.
For the main breakdown, let's talk about what this build does. By yourself, you have a total of six seconds of immobilize, a ranged knocked down, and a knockback that absorbs projectiles on your weapon swap. In a party setting this means that when you call target, if everyone is on the same page, that person should die. Your scepter sucks at long range, but is awesome at 600-900 range, which is on par with all the other scepter users in the game. It's better that way anyway, since you want to activate Virtue of Justice for your allies as well as for yourself.
Virtue of Justice will AoE Blind with the minor trait Justice is Blind, which means it's like an extra aegis for your group on a much, much shorter cooldown. Also don't forget that you have the minor trait Renewed Justice that renews your Virtue of Justice whenever someone dies. This is awesome in PvE, and in PvP/WvW make sure you have Justice on cooldown before a stomp goes off that you're getting credit for. At the very least, another minor trait, Inspired Virtue, will give your group some Might, which then improves both power and condition damage.
This build has low health, so I had to make some concessions for simple survivability. First, there's the major trait Signet Mastery. This not only speeds up your heal to a cooldown of only 32 seconds, but since two of your lockdown skills are signets you'll have access to them again much sooner. I'm also going back and forth with the trait Radiant Fire. If conditions are really hurting you, swap it for the trait Inscribed Removal which removes a condition every time you activate a signet. One of the consecrations you have access to also removes conditions, and in really bad situations you can dip back down to where Consecrated Ground/Unscathed Contender are, and switch them up for Master of Consecrations for the faster recharge.
And that's the current build. Currently, on the invisible triangle of damage/control/support, you're very far in the damage, good at control, and shit at support. It's a bit of the opposite picture you'd get from a Guardian, and more of a Zealot, which is fine by me. My mission was to have a build for every class that's not at all what you would expect from them. So far I've succeeded with a fourth one now, but I just hate being glass cannon...
Oh, and as for why I use Scepter/Torch/Shield and nothing else, it's because I love Smite. Smite hits lot, and combined with your auto-attack or the Torch skill Cleansing Flame, you will quickly go through rotations of Virtue of Justice's passive effect.
Moving on, here's the current setup: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAr/OlYgSCHECQcCJTBAcgWPIIEyfqUEP6DA;TkAg1Cqo4xwjgHLPOek8MEA
20/30/0/0/20. Runes of the Flame Legion. Only one sigil decided on, which is the Sigil of Smoldering. Overall, 50% extra burn duration, 800 damage for every second of burning, and 25% more damage on burning foes (along with 5% extra damage for just using a scepter). On top of this, your crit chance is 77%. Get a buddy with Fury, if possible.
I left a utility and a major trait slot blank, because those two are changed depending on the situation. If I'm in a party with lots of combo finishers (preferrably projectile), then that third slot has a consecration skill, and I use the trait Consecrated Ground that gives Consecrations ground targetting. Then I'll pop one down, also get a fire combo field, and help my allies out. When the party can't help with the burning fun, then I'll use some other utility (often a stun break) and then usually run with Unscathed Contender, which can be really powerful if you surprise someone and keep them locked down.
For the main breakdown, let's talk about what this build does. By yourself, you have a total of six seconds of immobilize, a ranged knocked down, and a knockback that absorbs projectiles on your weapon swap. In a party setting this means that when you call target, if everyone is on the same page, that person should die. Your scepter sucks at long range, but is awesome at 600-900 range, which is on par with all the other scepter users in the game. It's better that way anyway, since you want to activate Virtue of Justice for your allies as well as for yourself.
Virtue of Justice will AoE Blind with the minor trait Justice is Blind, which means it's like an extra aegis for your group on a much, much shorter cooldown. Also don't forget that you have the minor trait Renewed Justice that renews your Virtue of Justice whenever someone dies. This is awesome in PvE, and in PvP/WvW make sure you have Justice on cooldown before a stomp goes off that you're getting credit for. At the very least, another minor trait, Inspired Virtue, will give your group some Might, which then improves both power and condition damage.
This build has low health, so I had to make some concessions for simple survivability. First, there's the major trait Signet Mastery. This not only speeds up your heal to a cooldown of only 32 seconds, but since two of your lockdown skills are signets you'll have access to them again much sooner. I'm also going back and forth with the trait Radiant Fire. If conditions are really hurting you, swap it for the trait Inscribed Removal which removes a condition every time you activate a signet. One of the consecrations you have access to also removes conditions, and in really bad situations you can dip back down to where Consecrated Ground/Unscathed Contender are, and switch them up for Master of Consecrations for the faster recharge.
And that's the current build. Currently, on the invisible triangle of damage/control/support, you're very far in the damage, good at control, and shit at support. It's a bit of the opposite picture you'd get from a Guardian, and more of a Zealot, which is fine by me. My mission was to have a build for every class that's not at all what you would expect from them. So far I've succeeded with a fourth one now, but I just hate being glass cannon...
Oh, and as for why I use Scepter/Torch/Shield and nothing else, it's because I love Smite. Smite hits lot, and combined with your auto-attack or the Torch skill Cleansing Flame, you will quickly go through rotations of Virtue of Justice's passive effect.
There's nothing lame about that. That's actually quite adorable and very cute.
Online love is sirius business.
I would totally make one!
br0ken_shad0w
Member
FYI, they're handing out Karka Chest rewards (1 per account) from the Lost Shores event. So more chance for cheap exotics (and precursors).
Who are 'they' and when does this happen?
I wonder if loot for the Karka chests is based on level. They kind of allude that you should pass the chest to the character you want to open it. If so, I'll just leave it in my mailbox until I hit 80.
edit: What do you guys think about the gold → gem conversion rate? I started playing with the auction house a bit probably about 2 - 3 weeks ago. Initially I didn't have much money to play around with, but I'm up to about 10-ish gold right now. About a week before the Lost Shores event, I started investing some of my take into gems - typically picking up 50 gems / day (@ 41s). I really couldn't afford more, but was just planning on stocking up gradually so I could buy stuff during the Winter event and increase bank / bag space. I stopped buying gems during the Lost Shores event because the conversion rate was climbing too fast and it has yet to come down. I could sell my 200 gems (1g64s) and make about a 1g20s or so, but I'd rather get back into buying gems. The conversion rate has only been increasing though.
Do you think we'll see sub 1g → 100 gems rates again, or has Anet finally managed to create enough demand that they will stay above that rate? It seems like it's in their best interest to do so as more people will want to straight out buy gems from the shop. Just curious what you guys are doing.
edit: What do you guys think about the gold → gem conversion rate? I started playing with the auction house a bit probably about 2 - 3 weeks ago. Initially I didn't have much money to play around with, but I'm up to about 10-ish gold right now. About a week before the Lost Shores event, I started investing some of my take into gems - typically picking up 50 gems / day (@ 41s). I really couldn't afford more, but was just planning on stocking up gradually so I could buy stuff during the Winter event and increase bank / bag space. I stopped buying gems during the Lost Shores event because the conversion rate was climbing too fast and it has yet to come down. I could sell my 200 gems (1g64s) and make about a 1g20s or so, but I'd rather get back into buying gems. The conversion rate has only been increasing though.
Do you think we'll see sub 1g → 100 gems rates again, or has Anet finally managed to create enough demand that they will stay above that rate? It seems like it's in their best interest to do so as more people will want to straight out buy gems from the shop. Just curious what you guys are doing.
Very wise.
Goodacre0081
Member
same
KoruptData
Member
My guild is dead on SoR, you guys still on SB?
So is that what happened? We were doing AC and got to Ghost Eater when one of them disappeared. A second person said "brb" so we were like, "okay" and he disappeared. We waited around for a bit with three people left and another disappeared.
We said screw it and proceeded to two-man it.
We said screw it and proceeded to two-man it.
If anyone opens their Karka chest, can you post what you found inside? There's no guarantee that there'll be precursors inside. In fact, I fully expect a thread on the official forum to go up complaining that drop rates are different than the original chest.
edit: Was there a maintenance or something and if there was, was it announced? I couldn't get on during lunch.
edit: Was there a maintenance or something and if there was, was it announced? I couldn't get on during lunch.
Wound up still being too early for me, got back unexpectedly late. Let me know via PM if there's anything interesting afoot, nobody seems around now.
Nice CoF run, guys. Can't think of an easier time I've had on that path. Don't think we even had anyone go down except to the boulders.
AFollowerNotALeader
Member
I love this game to bits, don't get me wrong, but the overriding sensation I get from it is that of poverty. I don't think I've played an MMO where it's been so hard/frustrating to make money at endgame.
What do you mean? It seems like unless you're trying to buy mats for a legendary or some of the more expensive exotics that money isn't that hard to get. Kill stuff, sell what they drop. Run dungeons, get bags of money and loot to sell.
True, amassing wealth is maybe harder than other MMOs, but I think that's a good thing (to some degree.)
There was. It was announced in-game 30 minutes prior.
My Karka Chest had no precursor (don't mind, because I really didn't deserve the chest), but I did get an exotic bow, boots, Karka Shell, and the 20 slot box.
Mr. Luchador
Member
So people are now getting this chest for 'free'..? So basically next time there's a huge event, there's no need to slog away 3 hours at a time in laggy events to get 'rewards'?
Noisy Ninj4
Member
You didn't have to in the first place. The reward chest was a free for all as long as you brought a character who hadn't opened it prior and arriver within 2 minutes of the ancient karka's death.
Mr. Luchador
Member
Odd.
AFollowerNotALeader
Member
A bunch of stuff really some of it's my fault to some extent.
I've felt poor though the entirety of levelling and assumed it would get better (it does in most MMOs).
Yes, I am trying to get one of the more expensive exotics (Firebringer - http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Firebringer) which is on the TP for about 127G (last time I looked). I'm not trying to buy it though, because that would be crazy since I have the stuff for half the mats already (an endless supply of skill points and mystic coins). What I will need to buy is probably the Molten Lodestones (about 30-40g total when I looked) and some of the sword blades. I've mined some of the Orichalcum (though not nearly enough) and I need to get my weapon crafting from 348 to 400. I reckon that by the time I can afford to craft the thing at all, I'll need about 70g for the extra sword blades + the lodestones.
Problem two is that for me at the moment, the draw of this game is basically WvWvW which means money is already a problem since I die more and the rewards are less than for PvE (I've done some Orr and the repair to reward ratio is drastically different).
I have more karma than I know what to do with.
I wouldn't even want the bleeding thing if there was a plain, non-fiery gladius.
For a contrast, I logged into my old SWTOR account last weekend and one alt character has about 650K and my main has about 500K. This is from pretty much doing only PvP. Sure, they aren't rich by current standards, but when I stopped playing the most expensive thing you could buy (a particular robe that I didn't want!) was going for about 1.5 million on the GTN.
I think being "poor" wouldn't be so bad if the TP prices for things weren't so obscenely high. Or if there was an (obviously lossy) exchange mechanism between the various in-game currencies (karma -> gold etc.). It's hard to avoid the suspicion that it's harder to make gold because ArenaNet want you to buy it from them, an option which is looking increasingly attractive (if I can get over my massive unwillingness to do so - I've bought £80 of stuff with gems - account upgrades etc. but buying gold feels a step too far).
I'm wibbling a bit.
It's mostly a frustration when I look at my balance at the end of the night and realise how far from my goals I am.
Noisy Ninj4
Member
If it helps, you can spend some of skill points on crystals to buy up molten cores and transmute them into lodestones. Usually, you can make a decent profit by converting, actually (basically spending skill points to make cash).
They aren't getting it for 'free.' Only the people who attended the event but didn't get the chest due to disconnects should be receiving one. I was online all Saturday and did the event, but had plans on Sunday, I didn't receive a chest in the mail (nor should I have). This was suppose to be for people who spent 3 hours in the event but for one reason or another still didn't get a chance to open the chest.
I'm sure some people will get double chests, or chests for not being on at all, but the logic here is that it would have certainly sucked if you spent 3 hours slogging away at a laggy event to get no reward.
br0ken_shad0w
Member
*shrug* I got the reward but I only stayed like a minute on Lion's Arch. Saw the endless dying and bitching on guild chat, figured it wasn't worth it, and went back to watching football.
I'm guessing this won't be a regular thing though. It would defeat the purpose of one-time events (which I disagree with but w/e).
I'm guessing this won't be a regular thing though. It would defeat the purpose of one-time events (which I disagree with but w/e).
Nemesis121
Member
You are unlucky because I got a second chest, and guildies who only took part in the first event on Friday got chest...
I'm actually putting together a post on "ways to make money" that might interest you, so stay tuned. I'm surprised how common this opinion seems to be. Not only is earning gold fairly easy and consistent and inflation reasonable, people really need to consider the value of gold and the ultimate value of what it is they are hoping to purchase- in other words, "what do you want it for?"- a question I find myself asking more and more frequently as I watch certain lines of criticism about the "endgame" converge.
This is by design for sure, and not a bad thing. Each time I bought a trait book with my first character, I was bankrupted. I contrast this to Diablo 3 in which, when I hit the AH for the first time in Act 3, I discovered myself to be rolling in cash without having realized it (due to a general lack of challenge on Normal).
Please believe me that it does. Immeasurably. Especially when you have more than one capable high-level alt. It gets exponentially better once all areas of the game are open to you and you get better equipped (both literally and skill-wise) to play through content efficiently.
Well, there's a matter of perspective then. It's difficult to reconcile claims of feeling "poor" with a goal that rests in the absolute top tier of expense (a category in which I'd include the pricier unique skins, the triforge pendant, ascended back pieces, and at the far extreme, legendaries). These things are all meant to require a lot of time and effort to get.
Going after something of this nature is a "luxury" goal and almost by definition contradicts any claim of true in-game poverty (which I'd define as lacking enough gold to stay competitive in terms of the metagame- something that HAS frequently happened to me in F2P mmos).
What you're essentially saying (and I swear that I mean nothing critical or judgmental by this, in all honesty) is that you want your goal to be easier to get than the level of difficulty it requires now. And I can definitely sympathize with that. Lots of stuff I'd like to have is ludicrously tough to get in this game. But I weigh this effort against my own enjoyment first and foremost, and the tangible reward received secondmost.
In this case, Firebringer is literally valuable only for its skin. Yes, as an 80 exotic, it's best-in-slot; but so is any exotic dungeon sword, forged or crafted sword, or purchased sword. You want it because it looks cool, which is a good thing to begin with, but that leaves it squarely up to you whether or not it's worth the expense. Even if gold were twice as difficult to acquire in this game, the end result of what you're earning wouldn't be any more or less "worth it" except for your personal valuation of the cosmetic impact of the item.
It's a reasonable point as WvW is clearly less lucrative than many other areas of the game, especially if you die frequently enough. The devil's advocate would say, though, that not every cool-looking item skin in the game should be available through simply repeating whichever area of the game you like best. Note that I distinguish this wholly from the ability to obtain statistically beneficial items, which actually is doable through repetition of nearly any type of content.
Longer-term goals (a fiery gladius for you- an ascended quiver for me) invite you to put yourself on a difficult arc toward an accomplishment: something you can be proud of when you get over the hump and finish it. As long as these goals don't provide you with a distinct, tangible advantage over other players (and please let's not let this devolve into an ascended-gear-advantage conversation...), how steep the arc is is kind of irrelevant to being "poor." By simply abandoning the goal you get to keep all the money to put toward other things (?); to stick with it is to accept the current level of challenge required.
Ah- well, first off: this exists. In fact, GW2 has one of the most impressive and nuanced approaches to multiple in-game currencies I've encountered. Almost all types of currency can be exchanged for gold through some method (of various efficiency).
You can purchase 4 exotic items (Orr armor pieces) with karma, throw them into the mystic forge and sell the resulting item. It's impossible to establish a conversion "rate" for karma -> gold because of the RNG involved, but it still gets you silver pieces from karma blops.
Buy four dungeon token exotics and those can be tossed into the forge as well.
Skill points can be converted to gold by crafting and selling mystic weapons, and promoting the more lucrative cores to lodestones and then selling them.
Since there's a buyable item that gives you skill points in the fractals, theoretically even fractal relics can be converted to gold through the above. This isn't going to be the most efficient route to your goal but it is there as a piece of the puzzle.
Now this premise I just cannot understand.
Imagine the item you want was half as expensive as it is; now, twice as expensive. I'm guessing you'd consider it "worth it" in the first case, "not worth it" in the second. The key is that the gameplay impact you'll receive from the item doesn't change- it's zero. Even in the case of wanting to buy an ascended back piece, we're talking a 3-5% increase.
If this is what it's like for ArenaNet to make it "harder to make gold because they want you to buy it from them," I can't really say I have any personal objection. I'll go right on not spending a dime of real money until a legitimate paid expansion is released... and if people do want to spend the money to make getting these "tough to reach" items easier, more power to them, and yay for the benefit to the rest of us as the money is poured right back into maintenance and development without being literally required as in a subscription model, which I hear is somewhat popular in the MMO genre.
If you believe that ArenaNet is attempting to manipulate players into buying gems for gold to get what they want by making in-game gold harder to get, why would this make buying gems to convert to gold more attractive? If it were me, it would make me feel like abandoning the game, not giving more money to its creators
I think on some level you might realize that what you're really thinking about paying for is a faster route toward getting what you want. It's not evil or wrong or silly to want that. And hell, if you do it you're helping to secure the future of the game for everyone!
I just don't want us to confuse it with being necessary to enjoy the game. I hope that makes sense.
Hey, I've had that feeling many times as well.
Hard as it is to believe, it's that exact feeling that makes it satisfying when you accomplish your goal in the end.
Very well could be the case, I still have never seen the troll fight Kohler in AC that everyone keeps talking about... Either way someone getting two chests or others getting chests without participating doesn't mean I should have go one. Just means they got something they weren't supposed to, and that's awesome for them.
Did anyone in the guild get some cool drops from the mailed chests yet?
EDIT: Well put, Hawkian. I do look forward to Hawkian's Gold Hunters Guide, to see how we differ or how we may be the same in our hunt for gold.
Run Ghost Eater / COF1 nightly, with magic find food it's usually about 2-3g.
It's ArenaNet admitting that the event didn't go as planned and trying to make amends.
"What a terrible idea, ArenaNet should be ashamed they make players slog their way through a laggy, 3-hour event to get a chest with decent 'rewards'? "
"What a terrible idea, ArenaNet should be ashamed they give away 'free' chests, why show up to one-time events at all now?"
Mr. Luchador
Member
Retro give it a rest. Your bating is boring and not appreciated.
Run Ghost Eater / COF1 nightly, with magic find food it's usually about 2-3g.
It's ArenaNet admitting that the event didn't go as planned and trying to make amends.
"What a terrible idea, ArenaNet should be ashamed they make players slog their way through a laggy, 3-hour event to get a chest with decent 'rewards'? "
"What a terrible idea, ArenaNet should be ashamed they give away 'free' chests, why show up to one-time events at all now?"
Exactly. They're just trying to help out those who wanted to participate all the way to the end but couldn't. Just simple customer relations.
Warrior_Keoni
Member
Run Ghost Eater / COF1 nightly, with magic find food it's usually about 2-3g.
It's ArenaNet admitting that the event didn't go as planned and trying to make amends.
"What a terrible idea, ArenaNet should be ashamed they make players slog their way through a laggy, 3-hour event to get a chest with decent 'rewards'? "
"What a terrible idea, ArenaNet should be ashamed they give away 'free' chests, why show up to one-time events at all now?"
Yep, and usually with a right group made up of support builds for each other, it goes by really fast.
Not always sure about the MF though, I've gotten occasional rares more often without the MF food!
Shhhhhhh, we're not supposed to agree with each other because it gives the impression that, rather than common sense being our modus operandi, it is instead some sort of GAFGuild conspiracy to all support each other.
Well, Magic Find + Gold food, namely Raspberry Peach Bars. Dunno if it was just my lucky night or what, but I ended up with three rares from our Ghost Eater run last night.
Well, Magic Find + Gold food, namely Raspberry Peach Bars. Dunno if it was just my lucky night or what, but I ended up with three rares from our Ghost Eater run last night.
Warrior_Keoni
Member
It's just a fun fight to see Kholer and Troll go at it. See if you can make more time next week and come with us!
Things I forgot to add to my build post yesterday: There are two alterations you can make to this scepter build easy. One involves putting traits in the defense line and having your weapon swap be a Hammer. Every time I watch a video like this, http://youtu.be/GyjwodCizN4 I get closer and closer to doing it. Another alteration is making it a Spirit Weapon build, and using the trait A Fire Inside. The only thing is that the build would be better for sPvP than for WvW, and spirit weapons are sooooooooooo irritating to play against that I don't want to inflict that on anyone.
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As for money making, WvW does make you come out with a profit. Dying too often is to remind you need to slow down or change gears. Also, call out in chat that you're "LFG - havok squad" or something and start a 5man team, then the subsequent running around killing dolyaks, taking supply camps, dealing with quaggans, and ganking other players will earn you a decent chunk of change and loot.
And people don't understand just how... profitable it is to play with a group. In a party, you get a higher chance at each enemy dropping loot, while for every person outside your party (like in a massive zerg) you get a much smaller chance of loot dropping for each kill you get credit for. This goes for both player and NPC kills, which is why whenever I run a party I always use either the quaggans, skritt, or centaurs as a place to fall back to and hide while also making easy money and loot. Underwater combat is also so much more fun with a group of people rather than solo, to the point where it completely changed my mind about it, even when I went back to Orr.
An easy example: http://youtu.be/Nf8bYzUhIio
Another: http://youtu.be/QWAcvtasXZA
You get loot for almost every single kill. It's playing like this that makes WvW very profitable and earned me a gold or two from just a few hours of playing each night. Sure, not as great as farming in Orr, but I'm not going to outright farm for anything in this game.
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Oh, the gem conversion rate. While it seems like it's in ANet's best interest to keep it high, if there's something I've learned from other similar games is that players need to have a reachable way to use in-game currency for in-game shop transactions. Why? It adds to the pool of people who, say, open Black Lion Chests during events, get something valuable, and show it off. Showing it off creates envy, which helps more people want to try. Also, once you know you have a chance at something, it becomes like gambling or looking for a rare card from a booster pack. You're more willing to part with real money, especially as an adult, once you've popped open a few chests for free.
So, you need pressure to keep the gem:gold ratio from getting too high. One way was just buying gems for gold, but with how expensive and grindy certain things are coming out as, it's really, really not worth it to do that. ANet added a second way in their last two major patches: sPvP. This helps in many ways, as it increases the sPvP pool of players. You have the potential to gain 1120 gems in under an hour if you win a paid tournament. Yes, one thousand one hundred and twenty gems. You get 120 gems for winning a paid tournament, and then no matter if you got 1st place or 8th place, you have a 1 in 4 chance of winning a "jackpot" of a certain number of gems. The highest jackpot amount is 1000 gems. Technically, you could just play a paid tournament, lose in the first round, and still win a jackpot if you were lucky. The point is, just get in there and play.
Unfortunately, most players haven't taken enough advantage of this as they see this as a mostly PvE game anyway, and the PvP players aren't interested enough in PvE or the economy to buy more than a few gold, and keep the rest as gems so they can just buy stuff from the Black Lion Trading Company and treat everyone else as peasants by comparison. I'm hoping that there's some chance of gems making their way into WvW rewards by spring next year, but it'd cause so much whining I doubt they'll go for it.
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As for money making, WvW does make you come out with a profit. Dying too often is to remind you need to slow down or change gears. Also, call out in chat that you're "LFG - havok squad" or something and start a 5man team, then the subsequent running around killing dolyaks, taking supply camps, dealing with quaggans, and ganking other players will earn you a decent chunk of change and loot.
And people don't understand just how... profitable it is to play with a group. In a party, you get a higher chance at each enemy dropping loot, while for every person outside your party (like in a massive zerg) you get a much smaller chance of loot dropping for each kill you get credit for. This goes for both player and NPC kills, which is why whenever I run a party I always use either the quaggans, skritt, or centaurs as a place to fall back to and hide while also making easy money and loot. Underwater combat is also so much more fun with a group of people rather than solo, to the point where it completely changed my mind about it, even when I went back to Orr.
An easy example: http://youtu.be/Nf8bYzUhIio
Another: http://youtu.be/QWAcvtasXZA
You get loot for almost every single kill. It's playing like this that makes WvW very profitable and earned me a gold or two from just a few hours of playing each night. Sure, not as great as farming in Orr, but I'm not going to outright farm for anything in this game.
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Oh, the gem conversion rate. While it seems like it's in ANet's best interest to keep it high, if there's something I've learned from other similar games is that players need to have a reachable way to use in-game currency for in-game shop transactions. Why? It adds to the pool of people who, say, open Black Lion Chests during events, get something valuable, and show it off. Showing it off creates envy, which helps more people want to try. Also, once you know you have a chance at something, it becomes like gambling or looking for a rare card from a booster pack. You're more willing to part with real money, especially as an adult, once you've popped open a few chests for free.
So, you need pressure to keep the gem:gold ratio from getting too high. One way was just buying gems for gold, but with how expensive and grindy certain things are coming out as, it's really, really not worth it to do that. ANet added a second way in their last two major patches: sPvP. This helps in many ways, as it increases the sPvP pool of players. You have the potential to gain 1120 gems in under an hour if you win a paid tournament. Yes, one thousand one hundred and twenty gems. You get 120 gems for winning a paid tournament, and then no matter if you got 1st place or 8th place, you have a 1 in 4 chance of winning a "jackpot" of a certain number of gems. The highest jackpot amount is 1000 gems. Technically, you could just play a paid tournament, lose in the first round, and still win a jackpot if you were lucky. The point is, just get in there and play.
Unfortunately, most players haven't taken enough advantage of this as they see this as a mostly PvE game anyway, and the PvP players aren't interested enough in PvE or the economy to buy more than a few gold, and keep the rest as gems so they can just buy stuff from the Black Lion Trading Company and treat everyone else as peasants by comparison. I'm hoping that there's some chance of gems making their way into WvW rewards by spring next year, but it'd cause so much whining I doubt they'll go for it.
Was this serious?Retro give it a rest. Your bating is boring and not appreciated.
Raspberry Peach bars pay for themselves 5-10 times over within one third of one path of one dungeon, including story mode. Buy them. Buy them hard.
AFollowerNotALeader
Member
I look forward to this
I mostly agree with you there. This aspect of the problem (my desire for shiny Roman-looking things) is entirely of my own making. But then there's the fact that this skin would be relatively easy to obtain in an sPvP context if sPvP wasn't so skull-wrenchingly boring. Really, a Gladius shouldn't be a rare skin. Add a non fiery Gladius ArenaNet! NPCs have them.
Sort of. Except that wanting a particular sword is only part of the problem. I have nights where my repair bill in WvWvW almost cancels out my earnings. I'd be in almost as much trouble if I wanted the cheap exotics. Leveling crafting is also a massive money sink, largely because of the cost of the materials to make the stats-giving items. I guess what I'm trying to say is that now my Guardian is kitted out in (Rares?) yellow gear, the sensation of progress towards any goal is tiny. I play. Every night I'm there in one of the WvWvW zones. But apart from the immediate thrill of WvWvW (which is the greatest and most amazing thing ever - despite all the bugs and the low drop rate of badges, I love it to bits) I don't feel like I've achieved anything long-term at the end.
It's not so much difficulty, as time but yes, that's what I'm saying. I don't mind there being cool difficult rewards. I'm relatively time-poor and the aforementioned lack of progress is disheartening. An alternative might be there being a stepping stone between the exotics that are worth gear that is worth 2G per piece and the stuff that's worth 200G.
That's the truth, as I'll certainly transmute it into something with more appropriate stats.
I largely agree with this too, with the proviso that there needs to be some sort of reward or progression in WvWvW. I'd be less unhappy if it were feasible to gear up in appropriate WvWvW-acquired gear. This is what I usually do in MMOs - my max level characters are all kitted out from the PvP vendor. I don't get access to the same cool unique skins that the PvEers get but I do get a cool "PvPer" skin which identifies my characters as such. There is a WvWvW set, but it's insanely expensive in terms of badges and there is only one stat distribution.
That's awesome, I did not know that and will take a look tonight.
Let me elaborate then.
This is the first MMO where I've gotten to end-game and felt poor (or let's be less extreme and say like I'm living hand to mouth and barely saving anything for my or my alts future). Like money doesn't literally fall from the sky while I'm playing at max level. It's also the first game I've played which had no subscription and legitimate RMT from the start. It's hard to see this as a coincidence.
I'll completely be honest and say there's a certain amount of jealousy too. It's not a nice emotion. When I see people waving their legendaries about while I struggle to afford the gear I'm wearing, it's not nice. This is my fault, not theirs.
Oh definitely. I've already caught myself bargaining with myself. "SWTOR is ~£9 a month, if I bought about that many gems a month, it'd be just like a subscription".
I don't want to though. I want the satisfaction of attaining achievable goals. The key word there is "achievable" though, and I don't feel like there are many at the moment.
Edit: Looking at my post, I need to set more attainable goals.
Mr. Luchador
Member
There are various 'traps' in this game to make you buy gems -
Character slots less than available Personal Story options
Bank space limited
Bag space limited (not as much)
But then, it is a 'free' MMO, so you can't be too mad at them for that. The whole world economy on the trading posts is an interesting idea, and it'll be interesting to see how it holds up over time. It's not something I've really used, so can't comment on it too much. Just seems a nice idea, but wonder if it'll suffer from certain people controlling the prices (which happened on a server by server basis in other games).
Character slots less than available Personal Story options
Bank space limited
Bag space limited (not as much)
But then, it is a 'free' MMO, so you can't be too mad at them for that. The whole world economy on the trading posts is an interesting idea, and it'll be interesting to see how it holds up over time. It's not something I've really used, so can't comment on it too much. Just seems a nice idea, but wonder if it'll suffer from certain people controlling the prices (which happened on a server by server basis in other games).
Yea, I would strive for an exotic set with the state distribution you like, then work on the looks. You can always get the WvW armor (and yes that is insanely priced, I can't imagine getting that for quite a while) or the sword you want later and transmute it. Things seem to be built around that, hence WvW only coming in one stat distribution, really you are buying the skin and putting whatever stats you want on it.
As for money, Proven had a wonderful point about grouping up with people, that certainly seems to help with that, not to mention having a team (even in a zerg) means someone is likely to spot you downed and help you up.
For a WvW fan like you, I believe GAF partners with another guild? Check out our forums and see if their Mumble information is on there, I have never done WvW with them, but everything I hear is good.
That was all so very reasoned and rational that it's hard to even believe you're a real Person on the Internet, but thanks for taking the time to reply.
Oh wow, do they? Are you totally positive none exist in-game? Can you preview this in-game code when you get a chance? [&AgESewAA]
It's just called "Gladius"- if it's not available on the TP then that's definitely an oversight of some kind! Also try searching "Warrior Sword" by the way.
I agree 100% that the rewards for someone who solely wants to play WvW are totally inadequate. It seems that ArenaNet didn't expect there to be so many people who desired to do this- the game really compels you to do a mix of as many types of content as possible to succeed and not everybody wants to play that way.
I believe in January or February, some significant changes are supposedly coming toward this end.
That's what I meant, I suppose, although to an extent I'd say that doing more difficult content is a faster way to get to your goal than doing easier content- so it's related (I'll clarify this within my list of way to earn gold).
By the way, there are plenty of exotics in the exact range you're talking about. Eir's Longbow has a cool skin and well, it's called Eir's Longbow, and sells for 6-8 gold. Super-cool exclusive skins (I mean, that gladius is on FIRE) are always going to be very very expensive in a player-driven economy.
I'm still just so confused on this point, it's the only bit I don't understand. I was actually almost fully kitted in Exotics from the TP before hitting level 80, and it was much easier to later on get my second and third full exotic sets.
Hints:
-Non-80 exotics are much, much cheaper than 80 exotics for a wholly negligible stat difference (a theme you will notice a lot with me)
-Dungeon exotic items purchased with tokens do not cost gold. Or, if you look at it as I do- they cost negative gold. Doing the dungeons to earn the tokens you need to buy them makes you significant money, money than has only gone up in accessibility since release.
-Choose one or two aspects of your kit you want to obtain via crafting, and only spend the money to get the crafting you need to 400, rather than trying to do everything that way. For me it's jeweling. I'll never have to buy Exotic jewelry because it's cheaper for me to buy what I need to make them myself. Of course, this meant that I got specifically hosed by the addition of Ascended rings which can't be crafted. But c'est la vie!
Aww. I love seeing legendaries out in the world!
Well, maybe the problem then is that you set a quite staggering goal as your "first" one?
It seems you don't even have a full exotic armor set yet. Maybe make that a shorter-term goal to accomplish?
You can get one of a variety of dungeon weapons or armor pieces by doing all three paths of a dungeon in a day, or one path for three days. Make it six paths/six days and I believe you can afford any single piece of gear from that dungeon you want. That's a very realistic short term goal. You could also find a weapon skin you like on the TP that costs something in the 3-10g range and work toward that to tide you over until the "one day" you've got enough for the sword (you're hitting the rich ori node every day, right??).
I'd also like to note that there are also skill-based goals you can set for yourself that won't necessarily have a reward beyond your sense of pride. Seek out the toughest jumping puzzles and complete them all; reach fractal level 15; solo a champion mob. These things don't necessarily get you "stuff." They are still accomplishments, however.
I think a massive reason I've derived so much enjoyment for the game is that the second type of accomplishment is more important to me than the first.
Oh crap, I made this before your edit. Now I look like a jerk for suggesting something you already realized. No offense intended D:
As someone who has purchased both bank space and bag space and intends to buy character slots (I can afford two right now, but it would cut into my current goals so I'm holding off- haven't even started on my 4th alt, let alone 5th) without spending any real money at all, I am still not entirely sure what you intend to be saying about ArenaNet's intentions. :-/
Come to think of it, I asked a while back and I'm still wondering now- what are some other examples of games that allow you to buy character slots with in-game gold?
AFollowerNotALeader
Member
I'm uh... on another server for various reasons. And in the EU. I've not fought Gandara-GAF though - where are you guys?
I'll bear the grouping up thing in mind though.
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