Originally posted by Crackbone

This is about as close to perfect as you can get in a Microtransaction supported game. 

No one loses.  

Player 1 - No time, has some real life money, can either buy cash shop items with Gems, or sell Gems on AH for Gold. 

Player 2 - Plenty of time, no real life money, can earn MT items via farming in the game, buying Gems for Gold in the Trading post. 

Player 3 - Med Time/Med RL Money can do a little bit of both. 

What I'm really liking about this more than anything is, it's more support to the in game economy.  

Lastly, it really discourages gold farmers simply because it'll be likely easier to purchase Gems directly from Arenanet and sell them on the Trading Post for Gold, rather than go outside the game. 

 

+1

Perfectly said.  It is a solid system that worked very well in EVE.  RMT outside of game is the greatest evil to the economy of an MMO and this eradicates it. 

There is no endgame in this game so getting a 50% xp boost to get to level cap quick isn't even worth it. You're probably just shooting yourself up because.... I'm actually not sure why you'd want to purchase a 50% xp boost in a game like GW2....

I am glad AN is going this route because I will never subscribe to another mmo like Lotro or Allods that offer P2W methods.

Originally posted by Czanrei

I am glad AN is going this route because I will never subscribe to another mmo like Lotro or Allods that offer P2W methods.

But you'll PAY for a game from AN that then has P2W on top of it?  Buying in game gold for cash is P2W no matter how people want to spin it.

Originally posted by NMStudio

Originally posted by Czanrei

I am glad AN is going this route because I will never subscribe to another mmo like Lotro or Allods that offer P2W methods.

But you'll PAY for a game from AN that then has P2W on top of it?  Buying in game gold for cash is P2W no matter how people want to spin it.

I keep seeing this, but what do you win?

Originally posted by Zeroxin

There is no endgame in this game so getting a 50% xp boost to get to level cap quick isn't even worth it. You're probably just shooting yourself up because.... I'm actually not sure why you'd want to purchase a 50% xp boost in a game like GW2....

 

only reason would be to boost alts through to 80 so you are not scaled up for WvW.

This is a great system, but its not new. This is exactly how Star Trek Online works. You can trade dillithium(which you earn in game) for C-points(which you use to buy store items) and vice versa.

This system is fairly similar to Runes of Magic and diamonds and I loved that system. 

What will make or break the cash shop is what exactly we can buy with gold and how caught up the populas will be on stats in a group dungeons.  Still, you want to make sure you can buy things in game.  

Originally posted by DJJazzy

Originally posted by NMStudio

Originally posted by Czanrei

I am glad AN is going this route because I will never subscribe to another mmo like Lotro or Allods that offer P2W methods.

But you'll PAY for a game from AN that then has P2W on top of it?  Buying in game gold for cash is P2W no matter how people want to spin it.

I keep seeing this, but what do you win?

  ESPECIALLY in a game like LOTRO - I love people that call it a PTW game :D!

  I have no problem with Anet's vision (so far anyways)  We'll have to see how it shakes out.  For me, as long as nothing AT 'endgame' (whether that's PVP or PVE) REQUIRES items that CAN be purchased - then it's all OK.  I could care less about things like exp boosts etc.  I have more money than time and that's something I'd have no trouble with.

  Lastly...can the 20 topics about this be merged?  Please?  It's a little ridiculous :D

Love this system, came to comment to say that but the Nagus already beat me to it, Star Trek Online's had this in place since they went free to play. It's more or less completely annihilated the RMT market from the game as well as for a no-lifer like me, made it easier for me to support the game by buying other people's points, having points to spend, and getting other types of money into the other player's hands. This system is a win/win/win and I'm glad to see it being used!

Not sure if anyone brought this up or not yet, but there's a hint in the blog about this not being your traditional auction, but a trading post. 

I am most excited by this, as this seems to imply that Anet will have more of a hands on role in the auction house. I suspect we won't have a completely "free" market but one similar to our stock system in the US.  This will help control the price so people won't get rich or try to cheat the system. 

The Guild Banker with the digital version feels like a hint of things we can buy.  5 uses to access your bank in the field. How important will this be.  Will this be something you have to have.  How big are your bags?  

I know the game said no mounts, but what about speed potions that are convinent.  Will underground standards be put in place that you need a certain amount of speed potions so not to slow down the party?  

i hope an phone app is in the works! for the trading post!

I will budget 15.00 a month for microtransaction...that is what I would pay for a subscription

Exp boosts are minor things. Getting currency boosts (Dungeon/PvP/PvE currencies) will be rather annoying.

Run dungeon X times to get awesome dungeon set.

Run dungeon X/2 to get the same awesome dungeon set. (+50% loot CS item)

While this might sound like a convinience thing, it actually lessens the value of the "awesome dungeon set" making it less of an accomplishment. I really hope they won't go overboard with the CS items.

P2P > B2P /w CS

People forget there is 3rd curency in game. Karma. So even if you get rich with gems you still need to play the game to get karma. It's a good system. It all depends now what item's they will be selling for gems. Games with this kind of system can still fail if the item shop items are required to play the game. luckily ANet says they don't want to do it like that.

This is an April fools day joke, right ? Please? :(

For an informative and balanced overview of the implications of the gem system, check this blog: http://greibach.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/the-economy-of-gems/

I'm actually worried about this new system because it opens itself up to some problems.

It actually exists in a lot of F2P games (Spiral Knights, Puzzle Pirates, Star Trek Online) so we have a basis to weigh the pros and cons on.

It does reduce gold sellers.  It does not remove the need for off site illegal RMT traidng though.  Instead of selling gold, sellers will just focus on selling accounts instead.  Hacking an account is just as valuable possibly more so than botting one now.

The system basically gives Anet a Hall Pass to put a lot of items on the cash shop that they'd probably think twice about putting on.  Now they can use the excuse that anyone can get said item in game.  Convenience items could mean a number of things, from potions that give you flat EXP, karma, glory, and influence that SHOULD be earned in game to movement speed boosts out of combat such as mounts.  It's a fine line between pay to win, and there is nothing but a statement that they won't do it preventing them from putting on power items at this point as it likely won't have as great an effect on the number of people buying the game now that you could technically get the gems to buy the items.

The fact that they designed the game around the microtransaction system is troubling.  You can claim you don't need convenience items, but when the game goes out of it's way to inconvenience you (though likely we know a few don't exist in Guild Wars 2) such as giving you only a few inventory slots and bank space or putting in long travel times that you are forced to buy these "convenience" items to compensate than you can hardly call them convenience items anymore.

Worst yet, players who spend a lot of money in game will be able to completely control the economy.  They'll have so much more gold than a player who simply farms items in game since gems will likely sell for a lot of in game gold.  A few players having complete control over the economy is a very bad thing, and expect certain items to sell for outrageous prices due to this control of wealth.

Sounds good to me. I plan on making GW2 the MMO I play alongside whatever else MMO I'm subbed to at the time. That way I hopefully won't burn out on either which I tend to do when I focus on just one MMO. Since there's no sub, I won't feel compelled to play just because I should get something out of my subscription. I'll probably be more likely to trade gold and stuff for gems rather than put RL money into it, but if I end up just playing GW2 and nothing else for a while, I could easily justify putting the money I would normally pay for a sub into the game and reap the benefits from that. Either way, I like the fact that you have freedom to choose how you want to go about it and I stopped caring about people taking the buy-to-win approach a long time ago.

Guys please please open your eyes. You guys really think this will not be a P2W game?.

Every1 was thinking that it was going to B2P. Believe me Micro transactions=always p2w. It starts with costumes (looks), and after a couple of weeks, exp boost,speed boosts, character stat boosts, Armors, Pets,Mounts.

You think they gonna make game only for B2P??. Very bad move of GW2 . Didnt expect this. REAL MONEY=WIN ECONOMY+EQUIPMENT VERY EASYY. It has nothing to do with time etcc.

And dont talk about convencience items... Yes IT STARTS with these kinds of items but after some time it will be a copy of AOC or LOTRO or even Lineage2 hahah.

BYe Bye GW2 i prefer play a p2p game then a item mall(p2w) game.

Its the rich against the poor.