5201

Then how about monthly events? They certainly seem to change the things around.

I am not sure what you mean by “not very good economy”. It’s there, you buy stuff, you sell stuff, common stuff costs less, rare stuff costs more, you can make tons of money off it if you spend some time there or you can use it as little as you want and be fine too.

Not sure what are the expectations there.

5202

It’s an MMO economy. It does what it is meant to do; allow people to circumvent hours of farming by just throwing down some cash on the market, hand-in-hand with allowing people who spend hours farming to see some return on that time.

5203

Yeah, if the economy is working efficiently then you’ve got a reasonable real-world value return on time spent earning stuff and for the buyers they pay a reasonable price that ties directly back to the difficulty and time spent obtaining the goods/gold.

What skews the market and thus the economy is if it’s possible for bots and/or farmers in countries willing to “work” for extremely low wages to undercut the market, creating supply-side inflation that eventually makes everything in the game except for rare untradable items become nearly worthless.

It’s not the ability for cash to be used in an MMO economy that destroys it, it’s the lack of there being any minimum wage and rampant botting (which is roughly analogous to counterfeiting in the real world). A.Net primarily needs to address both issues by controlling the cash->gold conversion rate (effectively setting a minimum wage) and banning bots (which they’re working on it seems).

5204

Oh, the other thing I love about GW2? I really like the two-factor verification for login attempts from unknown machines.

I just got an email that someone in China was trying to access my account. Eat it hacker!

5205

I think that means they have your username and password. So, the two-factor verification may have saved your GW2 chars, but you should probably change your PW and consider how it may have leaked out.

5206

Already did it right after the notification.

5207

This. What you describe Strider is more like a marketplace. Yes, there is a place to buy and sell things, but the word economy implies more than just a big marketplace for people to dump things in and buy stuff from. I’ve never really cared for the word use of economy in most MMOs. GW2 lacks anything I would call a good economy, but it has a pretty good marketplace/auction house.

5208

I’m ok with this, because it means I can easily afford everything I need ;)

5209

It’s less of an issue with GW2 because the design says that acquisition of wealth is not overly important. In more treadmill-oriented games the lack of a functioning economy means that the carrots all have to be gated behind various grinds that must be performed entirely by the player’s character. I mean, I think it’s clear that a functional economy isn’t a requirement for a successful MMO, although I’d like to think that it’d be a nice-to-have.

5210

That happened to me a month or so ago too. And I hadn’t even played the game or do anything GW2 related for months prior either. I didn’t even notice till about a week afterwards either since it was sent to an email I check once a week or so. No idea how it could’ve leaked out since I even when I was playing GW2 I hardly check any external websites about it either.

5211

I’m not understanding why you imply GW2 doesn’t gate its carrots behind serious grinds. I realize you aren’t forced to grind for gold to buy culture armor or any crafted exotic but those are two of the end game carrots – and you will have to play for weeks/months in a non-grindy way to afford even part of them. Getting dungeon armor also requires a seriously repetitive grind. Let’s not even begin to address legendaries.

Karma gear is the lowest hanging fruit, I think, but still, the most efficient way to get karma is to run dungeons over and over (at least from what I’ve heard).

Wealth seems very important in GW2 for the kind of progression/acquisition the game suggests as appropriate goals for a level 80 character.

5212

Right but these goals are mostly (insert freaking out about fractals here) horizontal improvements. Once you hit 80 and gear up (pretty quickly and painlessly as mentioned up thread) almost no content is forbidden to you. Unlike a lot of other theme park mmos you don’t have to grind raid x before you can do raid y. On ascended gear and vertical progression taugrim has a great post:

5213

Alright, by not having cultural armor or crafted exotics (the latter of which are pretty easy to craft) what content are you gated from? What are you unable to do now that you will be able to once you have cultural armor? Or Legendaries for that matter?

5214

GW2 voiceover outtakes, quite funny:

https://soundcloud.com/arenanet/guild-wars-2-voiceover

5215

So, anyone planning a server transfer before the cutoff?

5216

Did they announce the cutoff date?

5217

I think it’s the 28th. I moved to Crystal Desert a while ago to join a bigger guild and I think I’ll stay there.

5218

It’s the 28th. I transferred over to Tarnished Coast figuring the (unofficial) RP server would have a long tail and generally better community, but none of my friends made it over before it filled. I’ll probably have to switch again which is annoying to say the least.

5219

There is no gated content that I can think of unless the higher difficulties of the Fractals count; the carrots are gear/costumes/ornamental weapons – and those are what I was talking about. And to get any gear in this game involves repeating content over and over to be at all efficient. It’s the same thing. I don’t have any problem with it, myself – I’d rather have greater reward for my investment than new looks, however, but that’s not relevant to this discussion. I also love many of the revolutionary aspects of the design – particularly the communal aspect. But there are carrots and they are grindy. I think the devs have even recognized this.

That said, your points are well taken that content is not (really) gated and that most of what can be enjoyed in the game is available to all with a low threshold of effort.

5220

January’s update, Flame and Frost goes live on the 28th: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/january-2013/?update

Features:

The sky falls and the ground shakes in the lands of the north. Charr and norn refugees crawl from the wreckage of their homes in the Wayfarer Foothills and Diessa Plateau, struggling to find shelter in the south. The call goes out for volunteers to assist the victims in this time of need, when earth and sky seem to have become the enemy…

Flame and Frost: Prelude is the prologue to a multi-stage narrative that will bring big changes to Guild Wars 2 in the months to come.

Temple of the Silent Storm Week

From January 28—February 4 the regular eight-team/three-round paid tournaments will be replaced by two-team/single-round paid tournaments in the Temple of the Silent Storm map. After the week is over, we’ll add Temple of the Silent Storm to the regular rotation of both free and paid tournaments.

Improved Achievement System

We’re adding a new rotation of daily achievements to add variety and encourage you to explore the open world. You’ll get different achievements every day of the week and a new achievement tracker in the UI to make it easier to track your progress.

New Achievement Laurels

You’ll earn these brand-new laurels as a reward for daily and monthly achievements!

Redeem these laurels for rewards like the new Ascended gear and Infusions!

Guesting

With the new guesting system, you can play with friends on other worlds in the same region (North America, Europe) without changing your homeworld. Guesting is free, but going forward there will be a gem fee for transferring home worlds, so make sure you’re on the home world you want to permanently play on before 28 January!

New Utility Infusions and Ascended Amulets

We’re adding a wide range of new gear that can be purchased with the new laurels.

With 5 new Utility Infusions and 30 Ascended Amulets to choose from, there’s something for every style of player.

More Upgrades and Improvements

We’re making a ton of other improvements to the game this month, such as enhanced performance in WvW, adjustments to side-kicking balancing, and UI improvements, which will be detailed in our release notes.

New Items in the Gem Store

It’s a new year, which means all-new items and a redesigned favorite in the Gem Store!

From Baby Quaggan Backpacks to Riding Brooms to the revamped Box o’ Fun, you’ll find it all in the Gem Store!