Guild Wars 2 Still Going Strong

Every now and again I ponder how well Guild Wars 2 is doing. The expansion is coming soon and the community goes from strength to strength. The game is neat, it's tidy and it's one of my favourite ways to kill time after work. 
I was reading a blog post about which MMOs failed and succeeded in the 2 year period up to the beginning of this year and there are a lot of interesting games here that I never even knew were released. 
It's crazy how many try to break into WoW's stronghold and it's crazy how many have been repelled.
What makes you stick with GW2? 
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Structured PvP = Reward Structure

I've always been a big fan of PvP. I played many battlegrounds in World of Warcraft (and would continue to if I had an active subscription); I've racked up 600hrs+ in Dota 2; I played a good bit of League of Legends before Dota 2 and, well, I'm fond of competitive play.

With GW2 I dabbled a bit at the beginning. The systems they've laid down are slick in PvP. Honestly it's one of the best PvP games I've played and perhaps the best MMORPG PvP system. I'll let others decide whether that's the case or not, but in my book I've not played better.

As I say though, I dabbled. The hugest of drives in an MMORPG for me, is financial security and progression in both PvE and PvP. GW2 kinda stumped me on a bit with PvE progression and continues to do so (I've not visited as many explorable dungeons as I've done, say, heroic dungeons in WoW). I should hook up with a regular PvE guild.



I also found PvP to be unrewarding. You gained ranks and had chances of gear but it was segmented from the main experience. I found this off-putting. I'm a massive fan of alts and being able to access everything I've unlocked on any character on any other character is a huge plus for me.

And so we come to the core of this post, as it were: I've been playing A LOT more PvP since the patch. Massive amounts more. The reward track system is cool but not the main selling point. It was the access to all items and looks across both modes that did it for me.

Having mentioned the reward system though, did you know it's probably the best way to get transmutation charges bar none? If you're like me and go through them at a huge rate, you might find you save a lot of gold > gems > charges if you just enter some sPvP.

You can earn a large amount more in gold with your time but saving is as important as earning and while the reward system isn't impressive in terms of financial throughput (gold per hour or minute) if you want to PvP anyway, you shouldn't feel that you're gimping yourself in terms of earning money.

PS/ I've been having so much fun and I've got so many classes to get to grips with (I feel like each of my six 80s deserve a run at least) I might end up sharing some tips or builds at a later date! Bear in mind I'm no expert... yet.

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Lucky Breaks

Sometimes you just get lucky. A long time ago when my Guardian hit 80 and I was gearing him up with exotics, I made the cost cutting decision to use a named exotic set with okay stats and okay runes. That set was Devona's and it was okay at the time.

Now however, the new meta means the runes of strength on each of this guardian's armor items are worth 10 gold and over. I don't main my guardian so his armour got salvaged with black lion salvage kits (to guarantee the runes) and sold.

It wasn't one of the runes or sigils I gambled on but it was a stroke of luck anyway. My guardian is in placeholder rare gear for now. I think I hurt his feelings.

You can't plan for these fortuitous occasions but you do need a rough mental picture of everything on your account (especially alts you play less often) to realise when one pops up.

Most of the returns from these runes of strength will be reinvested again but I've yet to decide where to place my coin. I have quite a few unidentified dyes so I think some diversifying is called for.

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Guild Wars 2 April Feature Patch

The April feature patch is here and there is much change!

First thing to do is log on every one of your characters and check your mail. Enjoy the unidentified dye influx if you maybe took my advice about buying regular duplicate dyes before the patch.

Then go to the black lion trading post armor trader and convert your town clothing to the new version of town clothing (if you want, I think it's almost a requirement as there's no town clothing window any more).

After you might log one character into the eye of the mists to unlock your PvP wardrobe. From here it's a time of experimentation - both with new traits and new looks. Here's a couple of my favourites after 20 minutes or so.

My Elementalist

My Engineer

It's also a great time to find bargains on the trading post. Dyes are plummeting in price - don't sell your unidentified dyes yet. We're talking months before you'll get the optimal return from them (and I think we will because they won't be dropping any more).

Check for exotic or rare skins you like the look of. Some of the better looking will rise steeply in demand with this patch.

There will be a lot of ups and downs and some winners and losers over the next week. Over all there's a lot to do. Let's get cracking!


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April Feature Pack Rune and Sigil Changes

One method for possibly making a tidy profit before the patch in a couple of days involves buying up cheap runes and sigils or investing in dearer versions that you think might get a bit of a boost with the changes to runes and sigils.

The changes include:

1. Staffs, hammers, longbows, shortbows, greatswords (and any two handed weapons I've missed) can have 2 sigils, not just one. 
2. Some runes are being tweaked to allow for some popular hybrid rune combos right now.
3. The hidden rules behind sigil activation are being adjusted.

Point number one means that most players with a two handed weapon in at least one of their weapons slots will be buying an extra sigil. The most popular sigils will increase in price.

This ties in with point number 3, which will see a reduction in shared cool downs and an increase in proc chance for on hit and on crit runes (and sigils) - certain impossible (or pointless) sigil combinations will become both possible and quite desirable.

Point 2 means we may see some big changes to certain rune sets, changes that result in shifts in prices.

All in all it's tough to predict what will happen. There will be much post patch calculating done in order to pick the best sigil and rune combinations (for the berserker meta for instance).

When the dust settles either the current pick of the rune/sigil crop will remain 7g+ or, perhaps, some of the low to mid price crowd will rise to join them in the golden sun.

I've invested in a few of the very cheapest and least desirable runes and sigils (runes of the undead for example) along with a slew of mid-priced options just in case. At the very least, it's highly unlikely I'll lose much money from this kind of speculation.

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Gold and Levels in Edge of the Mists

Edge of the Mists! It's a beautiful place. Really, it's superb. First of all it's gorgeous - the designers really knocked the ball out of the park. Second of all, the 3 hour match rotations means you never really end up suffering too long by being outclassed (in theory).

Thirdly, and this is what I've been enjoying most about EotM with the two professions I'm levelling at the moment (Elementalist and Engineer) you can gain a lot of levels AND attain quite a bit of gold.

Here's a few tips if you want to try it out:

• Stick with the karma train (probably the most important thing) and try not to die!
• If you die, wait. If the train you're with overcomes whatever hazard kills you, you'll be revived. 
• I recommend joining a party if you're low level or prefer supporting rather than doing a lot of damage. That way you'll be able to loot more NPCs (and enemy players). 
• If you have nothing you want to buy with your badges, convert them to whichever plan sells well. Rates vary but if you place the plans on above the minimum sellers price you can probably stretch towards a 2 or 3 silver per 6 badges - and you can earn a lot of badges*. 
• Level multiple alts through the WvWvW ranking system. You gain chests and silver for every level gained independently (this only applies until the next patch when you'll have a consolidated, account bound wvwvw rank). 

Enjoy defending the mists!

*You CAN create superior siege blueprints and make more gold per badge but there's a material and skill point investment.

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Excited for Next Tuesday's Patch

Hello! Exciting news. I finally settled on a look for my mesmer. It took a while, it took a long while and the answer was not what I expected:

And Saxon Cain, my loyal 2nd character (a warrior) is now a woman, all power to her.

Anyway, I've begun playing Guild Wars 2 again these past few months. I've been doing other things and not had time to write here either. You know when you get a strange period in life? Well you don't want the long, boring version but let's just say I now speak Swedish ("hej!" och "hur mår ni" till alla som läser och förstår det här) and I will be going to the Shaolin temple to train Kung fu this summer.

Sometimes things just go in interesting directions.

Hi anyone that reads this. If you want a TIP, well I've been out of the loop a while but from what I can see there's still a possibility to attain many unidentified dyes (cheapish) when the new patch hits.

The first factoid: Duplicate dyes on your characters will be refunded as unid'd dyes when account wide dyes in the wardrobe are unleashed.

The first assumption: Many people are already buying and learning dyes across their characters (the price of dyes has increased substantially). This means a lot of people are buying the dyes that were previously worth COPPER. So when the patch hits, new unid'd dyes will flood the trading post.

Investment 1: Buy the oversupplied dyes after patch.

The second factoid: Unidentified dyes will no longer drop - they ain't on no loot tables any mo - post patch.

Assumption the second: While people won't need as many unid'd dyes to fill their account wide dye collection, over time dye popularity will recover. They're a lottery ticket - you might get a valuable dye - and they're a recipe requirement in some legendary weapons, plus they're off loot tables. Supply is restricted to crafting and laurel vendors. If other investors think thusly, this they might hold onto dyes during the early predicted surplus period (in other words, there may not be much surplus).

Investment 2: Create or use existing characters (as many character slots as you've unlocked) to learn the cheapest dyes on the trading post across all your characters.
 

Personally I've tried a bit of option 2 already. I've been out and my gold reserves aren't as impressive in the evolving market, but I threw some funds into 13 - 14s dyes in the hope the unidentified dyes I get back will return to the 30s mark or more (doubling my investment). 

I also plan on monitoring the unidentified dye price on patch day. It might go down low enough that I feel like another investment in these dyes. 

What are your thoughts?

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Clockwork Chaos and the Queen's Jubilee

There was a time when I felt like every gold I earned was an achievement but the past two Living World installments have injected so much effortless cash into my 3 level 80's (one levelled from 30 to 80 in the Pavilion alone) pockets that it's a bit silly. Are these changes accidental? Are they a little reward for players? Or is this a sign that things are changing in the GW2 economy?

It's well known that Arenanet keeps an economist on staff so I find it hard to believe that the influx of gold to the average player is an accident. It may be that the gold available is a sweetener to keep players logging in for more than just achievements to get the achievement chests.

I believe that these changes are the first step in a rejig of the economy. So far the single greatest thing that can happen to you, financially, in Guild Wars 2 is to be blessed with a precursor - either through complete luck via the gods of RNG, or via painful, systematic burning of exotic/rare items in the mystic forge.Get the hammer or one of the great swords and you are suddenly rich.

This precursor chase (the luck aspect in particular) has been such a problem for the average community member that there has been talk from the developers of a change to the system coming soon™: the rumoured scavenger hunt that lets you piece together your own precursor.

The legendary weapon grind already requires quite a lot of gold and I can't help thinking the precursor will also require a lot of gold - be that in the form of existing (or new) crafting materials or specific and expensive components.

So maybe Arenanet are lubricating us with gold we're going to need later. Perhaps not.

In any case, gold is worth less than it was a month ago - gems, and a lot of items are more expensive.

With uncertainty ahead I thought I'd take this opportunity to kit my warrior out in full Tier 3 cultural gear. No matter what may come financially, he'll always look good!

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A Change of Plan?

I've been playing a lot of GW2 this past week. It's the first time I've managed to get stuck into the game since I moved.

What struck me the most was how out of the loop I now am with the economy. I mean, I'm doing okay and some of my long, long term predictions paid off but I couldn't say that right now I'm any kind of expert.

This got me thinking. I'm really keen on continuing with content creation, but I'm not going to be able to claim any kind of expertise in the area this site arose to deal with. What if I just branched out? You know, started writing about things not quite related to the economy.

What would you folks think about that?

I mean, I get there'd be people who've bookmarked the site for the sole purpose of it being an additional tool for their earning goals in game. So perhaps a few wouldn't feel like following my posts as closely as before.

There are also folks who just want additional content about the game they love at times they can't really play it (work for instance) and so just read about it. I reckon I could provide a service to those folks alright.

It's also something I'm keen to do myself - spreading my wings as it were. No doubt I'll still share thoughts about things related to the economy but perhaps a kind of rebranding is in order? Or maybe the 'riches' in the blog title would stand for all the riches this delightful game has to offer?

Who knows! Only time will tell. Perhaps some of you have thoughts on the matter too?

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Apologies For Lack of GW2 Content

Hi guys!

I have been really busy lately. I had to devote extra time to securing new work recently (durn recession), and I also have had plans to move to live with my gf in another country (an adventure from a less than ideal situation) so I've been organising that.

My GW2 play time slipped and then my knowledge lost its edge so even when I had time to write something I wasn't in the loop enough to create something I wanted to put out there.

I'm moving to Sweden THIS WEEK (excited) and I'm shipping my PC (all that I need) shortly. I have logged more GW2 time in the past few days than I have in the whole previous month of April and the fire is in my belly again.

I hope to get back to creating content and I do apologise for not being more regular with my posts!

Ps If anyone has sent me a mail, I haven't got round to checking my GW2 blog mailbox until this morning so expect a reply soon.

Thundergore
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