87 replies to this topic

[Dasryn]

Sans, on 06 January 2013 - 06:25 PM, said:

I'd be jealous if you didn't buy it with real money.

again, why are you so concerned with how i obtained my cult t3?

lol.

[HederaHelix]

Rickter, on 06 January 2013 - 10:01 PM, said:

again, why are you so concerned with how i obtained my cult t3?

lol.

Because, some people can't stand that others might rather pay with money then their time for something.  Some people think if you don't do it the way they feel it should be done its the wrong way.  I'm all for the many options we have to get things.  There are very few things in this game you have to do a certain way to achieve the same result.  People should respect other peoples way of doing things.  That money you spent, you earned in real life... so yeah, you still earned the gear. Kudos to you! =)

[Bloggi]

'Sense of achievement' in this game is going to be subjective, each person may choose to do it their own way. So I won't personally judge a person on whether they bought their way to T3 culturals using money IRL to buy gems and convert to in-game gold. Having said that, I would infinitely prefer to earn my way to T3 in-game, and for me, that would be a sense of achievement. We can argue till we're blue in the face that earning in-game gold actually requires no skill and it's just pure grind. Regardless it requires a degree of dedication to the game to earn 119G, unless the said person has been exceedingly lucky with loot, or savvy with TP monopolization and flipping.

But back to the topic...I am a little miffed that T3 cultural armor is only rare and not exotic. Rare gear is also on the way to becoming mid to low-end with the advent of ascended gear (there's more to be released, I'm sure). It has forced me to buy T3 cultural armor, then earn exotic gear through dungeons and having to transmute the two just to stay reasonably relevant. We could of course speculate that maybe in the future there could be T4 and T5 cultural armor that may then have exotic stats, but that's just speculation.

[Dasryn]

HederaHelix, on 06 January 2013 - 10:19 PM, said:

That money you spent, you earned in real life... so yeah, you still earned the gear. Kudos to you! =)

YAH BOI!!! you are absolutely right!!!  i did scrounge that stuff up, post my belongings onto craigslist, then DRIVE OUT AND MEET EVERY SINGLE POTENTIAL BUYER for my gaming peripherals so i DID earn my CULT T3.

i earned it straight up, hustling and trappin like a real baller.  take that suckas!

[Fizzypop]

HederaHelix, on 06 January 2013 - 09:27 PM, said:

Its easy to get more though. Do a couple map completions (if you have an alt that is 80 or around it, you can do the higher level maps that give the Advanced Stones as rewards). How many times are you transmuting gear? I've only used it a few times.  Of course I found the gear I wanted, and waited till I got it before I transmuted it. I didn't say I was speaking for everyone.  But to say its a Cash Shop Ploy by ArenaNet to get people to buy Trans stones is silly its not a ploy.. its just there as an option for people who don't want to obtain other ways of getting it. If you're wasting the ones you are given in game, then of course you will have to purchase more.  But they give you a substantial amount free.  With three characters at 80, two of which I've done completions on, I seem to be rolling in those little squares of transmuting goodness.

Yes, but that means you have to level an alt and sink in a lot of time to get them up to 80. I can see a lot of people who may not want to do that. Also both orr maps I completed I didn't get fine transmutation stones so it's not 100%. Just like completing dailies isn't 100% chance of getting black lion freebies. I don't transmute often at all, but as I said not everyone is as lucky since there is no guarantee of getting them in game- only through gold or cash. If I only have 20 playing the game then I'm guessing someone who plays less than I do might have an issue. Shrug, there isn't any good reason why they shouldn't be exotic. The guess that they wanted people to use transmutation stones is sound. Anet hasn't really done anything intelligent with their cash shop so that logic doesn't seem that off to me. They want to make money, but go the worst way about it. Kind of funny really.

Either way, I was just saying that fine transmutation stones aren't a given in game and that's true. I think anet calmed down the rate of freebies since launch so I'm guessing someone starting now is going to have a harder time getting them as those of us who started at the beginning. That's just going off of what I've seen and heard from friends who started recently.

Edited by Fizzypop, 07 January 2013 - 02:28 AM.

[Fizzypop]

Rickter, on 06 January 2013 - 05:39 AM, said:

snip

By chance do you remember how much real $$ you paid and how much gold you got? I'm curious if gems to gold is starting to actually be worth it.

[Dasryn]

Fizzypop, on 07 January 2013 - 02:31 AM, said:

By chance do you remember how much real $$ you paid and how much gold you got? I'm curious if gems to gold is starting to actually be worth it.

i had between 40-48 gold upon reaching level 80 - at the time gem to gold conversion was: 1g 52s = 100 gems

i know that now that's been shot to shit but this was about 2-3 weeks ago.

[Cereal]

Personally, my time > my money. I used about 2000 of my gems and converted it into gold for things like tier 3 cultural armor, ectos, and other things I do not care to invest time in getting. If you're patient, you can wait until the gem to gold rate is in the 1g 70s per 100 gems range. The decision to skip the process of getting expensive items was my choice. If your accomplishment is playing the game to get your gold, then that's your sense of accomplishment. One important thing; I don't mind giving ArenaNet money. They've made a great game that I've spent a good amount of time playing. If that means I have to buy tier 3 cultural + exotics and on top purchase transmutation stones to get what I want, so be it.

Edited by Cereal, 07 January 2013 - 03:00 AM.

[LavaSquid]

Have too much basic transmutation stone, no idea on what to do with them. Almost all the best looking skins are lv80 and most of us only powerleveling our toons to lv80 for the dungeon exotics...

On topic: Exotic culturals are useless if they don't offer stats that you want. In the end we still need to buy fine transmutation stone from Anet...

[Trei]

What would be nice is to have a recipe to convert basic tstones to fine tstones.
But I'm not sure what exchange rate would be considered a fair deal for these things.

[dondarrion]

SirGamesalot, on 06 January 2013 - 08:54 PM, said:

When you are allredy spending 119gold on cultural armor, you dont want so spend another 20gold on the armor with the stats. Not all of us have infinite cash you know.

Don't see why you need to spend 20 gold on stat armor... like previous poster said, go do dungeons. 3 runs will give you a smaller piece, 5 runs will give you a big piece.
Or amass lots of karma from events, etc. and go to Cursed Shore and pick up exotic karma set. Good stats on many of those too, as they come in lots of varieties.

Fizzypop, on 06 January 2013 - 09:12 PM, said:

Not everyone has that many. I only have about 20 fine stones which doesn't last long if you are using them for a full set of gear. Since that's 6 stones per set of armor.

Got to agree with Rickter, just from playing I've got about 60 fine stones... just do map completion, monthly achievements, etc. and you'll get them. I've also spent every BL key I've had drop on one of the many chests I've come across and they're frequently in there as well. Again, not a single real life $ spent on stones.

[Arquenya]

Sans, on 06 January 2013 - 07:09 PM, said:

It's not that, I just don't understand the point of the game if you decide to buy everything you want with money.
in about 150-200 hours you can do everything in this game, dungeons, map completion etc.

these are supposed to be long term goals, why rush it and get it so quick.

Well it's not everything.

On the other hand: I really bought a lot of stuff with my in-game gold. Like lots and lots of fine T-stones but also 6 bank slots, some armour, makeover kits.
And if there weren't people converting RL to gems for gold, I wouldn't have been able to buy any of that unless I had spent over a hundred euros to buy gems. In fact far surpassing what I'd pay for a subscription fee based game without cash shop.

So yes I'm glad there's a lot of people converting their RL cash for gold.

Edited by Arquenya, 07 January 2013 - 07:37 AM.

[madmaxII]

dondarrion, on 07 January 2013 - 07:28 AM, said:

Got to agree with Rickter, just from playing I've got about 60 fine stones... just do map completion, monthly achievements, etc. and you'll get them. I've also spent every BL key I've had drop on one of the many chests I've come across and they're frequently in there as well. Again, not a single real life $ spent on stones.

Eh, I have been playing since release, done every monthly achievement and almost every daily so far, completed orr, mount maelstrom and frostgorge sound with 3 chars and even if I never bought a key I have used dozens of them by now. I got 15 fine transmutation stones in total. In fact, I have yet to see fine transmutations stones as a reward for the daily/monthly achievement or for map exploration.
It's 100% RNG. I don't know the drop rate, but I am sure you are on the lucky side. I guess most people have to buy stones from the gem shop at some point if they care about their equipment's appearance.

Edited by madmaxII, 07 January 2013 - 09:48 AM.

[dondarrion]

madmaxII, on 07 January 2013 - 09:48 AM, said:

Eh, I have been playing since release, done every monthly achievement and almost every daily so far, completed orr, mount maelstrom and frostgorge sound with 3 chars and even if I never bought a key I have used dozens of them by now. I got 15 fine transmutation stones in total. In fact, I have yet to see fine transmutations stones as a reward for the daily/monthly achievement or for map exploration.
It's 100% RNG. I don't know the drop rate, but I am sure you are on the lucky side. I guess most people have to buy stones from the gem shop at some point if they care about their equipment's appearance.

Yea, initially I also thought I'd have to shell out in the gem store for those stones, but since they kept dropping and I all of a sudden had so many I just assumed they were quite frequent drops in the loot table. Maybe they've nerfed the drop rate now, if I recall I've not had one drop for a long time, but got most of mine between 1st and 3rd month into the game's age (Sept-Nov).

[Arquenya]

dondarrion, on 07 January 2013 - 07:28 AM, said:

Don't see why you need to spend 20 gold on stat armor... like previous poster said, go do dungeons. 3 runs will give you a smaller piece, 5 runs will give you a big piece.
Or amass lots of karma from events, etc. and go to Cursed Shore and pick up exotic karma set. Good stats on many of those too, as they come in lots of varieties.

Don't forget sup runes and sigils, which alone can already cost over 20 gold.

dondarrion, on 07 January 2013 - 07:28 AM, said:

Got to agree with Rickter, just from playing I've got about 60 fine stones... just do map completion, monthly achievements, etc. and you'll get them. I've also spent every BL key I've had drop on one of the many chests I've come across and they're frequently in there as well. Again, not a single real life $ spent on stones.

I've got like 40 fine T-stones from map completions and keys, with 4 characters. Still it's not nearly enough

[Fizzypop]

dondarrion, on 07 January 2013 - 07:28 AM, said:

Got to agree with Rickter, just from playing I've got about 60 fine stones... just do map completion, monthly achievements, etc. and you'll get them. I've also spent every BL key I've had drop on one of the many chests I've come across and they're frequently in there as well. Again, not a single real life $ spent on stones.

Rickter said nothing about fine stones...so you are mixed up there. I'd suggest reading my reply up thread. Map completes don't always give them in fact the last two maps I did didn't at all. Monthly and daily achievements don't always give them. In fact I haven't received one black lion freebie in about two months. I have never gotten one from a black lion chest. The only reason I even have the stones is from the first two months of dailies. I'm pretty sure they calmed the freebies down by a lot so if you are starting now you are at a disadvantage to someone starting at launch.

[Fizzypop]

Rickter, on 07 January 2013 - 02:48 AM, said:

i had between 40-48 gold upon reaching level 80 - at the time gem to gold conversion was: 1g 52s = 100 gems

i know that now that's been shot to shit but this was about 2-3 weeks ago.

Thanks I've been trying to decide if I want to use my spare christmas money for some gold or buy something from the steam sale.

[SirGamesalot]

People saying to do dungeons to save money on exotic things, remember that time is money and that it is incredibly much faster to farm the 20g than the karma or dungeon tokens.

[Senatic]

SirGamesalot, on 07 January 2013 - 05:01 PM, said:

People saying to do dungeons to save money on exotic things, remember that time is money and that it is incredibly much faster to farm the 20g than the karma or dungeon tokens.

To be completely objective here, it takes more then 20g to fully equip yourself in exotics. Assuming a average price of 3g per Armor/accessory and an average price of 3g for a weapon you are looking at a minimum of 39g to get yourself in full exotics. Add runes and sigils to this and the price can easily vary between 45-60g when going for some of the more popular choices (such as runes of divinity and so on.)

Getting a dungeon armor can cut this cost down by almost 20g. But depending on the dungeon it may be faster or slower. You could get a Cof Armor in 2 days for example. Getting an Arah set however might take you 2-3 weeks.

[MisterB]

SirGamesalot, on 07 January 2013 - 05:01 PM, said:

People saying to do dungeons to save money on exotic things, remember that time is money and that it is incredibly much faster to farm the 20g than the karma or dungeon tokens.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. You also earn gold in dungeons, which you can use to buy exotics along with tokens. Win/win.

[SirGamesalot]

Senatic, on 07 January 2013 - 05:33 PM, said:

To be completely objective here, it takes more then 20g to fully equip yourself in exotics. Assuming a average price of 3g per Armor/accessory and an average price of 3g for a weapon you are looking at a minimum of 39g to get yourself in full exotics. Add runes and sigils to this and the price can easily vary between 45-60g when going for some of the more popular choices (such as runes of divinity and so on.)

Getting a dungeon armor can cut this cost down by almost 20g. But depending on the dungeon it may be faster or slower. You could get a Cof Armor in 2 days for example. Getting an Arah set however might take you 2-3 weeks.

Since were talking cultural armor, I only added the actual armor pieces, not weapons, accesory, runes and such. If its 3g per piece (a bit more if berzerker) you will end upp on 18g for the armor, and about 20g if berzerker.

[draxynnic]

Fizzypop, on 07 January 2013 - 02:28 PM, said:

Rickter said nothing about fine stones...so you are mixed up there. I'd suggest reading my reply up thread. Map completes don't always give them in fact the last two maps I did didn't at all. Monthly and daily achievements don't always give them. In fact I haven't received one black lion freebie in about two months. I have never gotten one from a black lion chest. The only reason I even have the stones is from the first two months of dailies. I'm pretty sure they calmed the freebies down by a lot so if you are starting now you are at a disadvantage to someone starting at launch.

This matches my experience - I was pretty busy in the first few months after launch and so didn't get to 80 until just before the Karka event (and that was a deliberate push to do it). I'm also an altaholic so I haven't been focusing a lot on the characters that are already 80, but I've completed Straits of Devastation and Cursed Shores, the December monthly, and I've been careful to finish most dailies on an 80 for the extra money - so far, I haven't seen a single fine stone.

BL keys were expressly removed from loot drop tables in an update within the first couple of months, IIRC - if you go through the update notes you'll probably find it. You still get the odd couple as personal story rewards, but that's obviously a finite source.

Returning to the OT - given the price, I think the T3 culturals really should be exotic to begin with. Yes, you could say that if you afforded the armour in the first place, you can afford the fine stones - but that is an additional expense on top of what is already a large investment. Furthermore, if the usual trends continue, the average price of gems is probably going to keep rising until that isn't such a small additional investment.

Edited by draxynnic, 07 January 2013 - 11:40 PM.

[HederaHelix]

draxynnic, on 07 January 2013 - 11:37 PM, said:

BL keys were expressly removed from loot drop tables in an update within the first couple of months, IIRC - if you go through the update notes you'll probably find it. You still get the odd couple as personal story rewards, but that's obviously a finite source.

NOT True.  I got a drop yesterday off a mob.   The drop rate may have been altered but I've never noticed the difference.  I get one once in a blue moon off a mob.

[Big Ol Norn]

Lol @ this thread. The game ships with 8 dungeons to get exotic armor from. Also I've gotten free fine t-stones from chests. People sometimes literally want everything to be possible, but that makes you the unrealistic one.

It seems like a lot of people STOP PLAYING at 80 and then say: Hey why can't I get all the gear? Well, uh, there's still content left. If you stop playing that's your call but nobody ever said lvl 80 is some kind of free buffet of new stuff. That idea doesn't even make sense. What would you then do with all your new stuff? Nada. Thinking! It's not hard.

Edited by Big Ol Norn, 08 January 2013 - 12:35 AM.

[rentauri]

There is the chance that T3 armor (along with Order armor) aren't exotics because Anet figured that the buyer would be transmuting different stats into it anyway.

[Lady Rhonwyn]

Rickter, on 06 January 2013 - 05:28 AM, said:

yeah its basically a ploy to get you to spend a ton of real life money.  T3 is arguably the best looking armor across the board for all the races so they made that armor ridiculously expensive.  so you start converting gems to gold then you spend more on transmutation stones.

Taste differ, because I have not found one T3 armour set that I like...  But I would have liked if those armoursets were also purchasable with karma, instead of gold...

[matsif]

them being rare forces you into fine trans stones as stated, and also forces you to play other content to get the stats you want (whether its farming more to buy an exotic set from TP, crafting the set, running dungeons, etc.).  Basically I look at it as a force on the player to do other content outside of just playing the TP and buying a specially skinned max stat armor set.

[sevalaricgirl]

First, I really dislike the T2 and T3 cultural armor on anything but human heavy armor class.  All the rest is just not my style.  Transmutation stones are achieved 3 per city.  If you wait until you have your character at level 80 to transmute, then you're good to go.  I have a set of temple armor that I am earning for my level 80.  It's work but it is the best medium armor I have seen in the game, fell in love with it during BWE3.  Dungeon armor is good looking armor and earned by doing dungeon runs.  May take time but not money.  Most people play when they aren't working, not instead of working.  Now as far as the gem store goes, who cares if people spend money on gems to convert to gold.  Why do you think you get to play this game and get new content.  Employees don't work for free.  I gladly support ANet through the gem store, just wish they had more fun stuff in it.

[Lucas Ashrock]

I still wish there will be less and less "supporters" like you ,and even people like you opening his eyes, stopping to support this pathetic company, but that's an other story

[two maces]

sevalaricgirl, on 08 January 2013 - 05:45 PM, said:

Transmutation stones are achieved 3 per city.  If you wait until you have your character at level 80 to transmute,

Then you won't be able to use the transmutation stones you got from map completion because they are only valid for levels 1-79.