About GW2 |
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| Release Date Aug 22, 2012 |
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Developer ArenaNet |
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Publisher NCSoft |
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Country of Origin United States |
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In Guild Wars 2, the Gem Store utilizes the game currency known as Gems (obviously). Gems can be acquired in the following ways:
Items on the Gem Store can vary between cosmetics, account upgrades and convenience items.
In the following paragraphs we are going to take a look at each Upgrade and Convenience item and tell you our opinion on if it’s worth to buy by trading gold for gems or not.
I will not be covering cosmetic items since it’s really in the person’s preference if they will buy it or not.
Also focus will fall on the gold cost and not the real money cost for the same reasons. Gold to Gem exchange rate changes quite often, so the Cost in Gold listed below will be approximate.
Last but not least, we are gonna be “judging” items that are permanently on the Gem Store, not seasonal offers. So let’s begin:
Usage: Bank Tab expansions give you 30 more slots in your bank.
Cost in Gold: ~154
Verdict: Yes, it’s absolutely worth it. You are gonna need much bank space, especially in the endgame. My recommendation would be to have at least 3 extra tabs (4 in total).
Usage: Purchasing a storage expander you may deposit 250 more materials in the material storage, meaning you can have as much as 500 of each material. Note: it affects ONLY your material storage. Stacks in the inventory and the bank still cap at 250.
Cost in Gold: ~ 206
Verdict: Depends. Would only be worth it if you are a hoarder and you gather every single material you find in the world. Generally speaking 250 a stack is pretty decent, but if you gather like crazy you are gonna end up filling your inventory or bank space, so it’s better to buy the expander. Up to 7 expanders may be purchased for a total of 2.000 items per stack in storage.
Usage: You may create one more character. From default you can create up to 5 characters with the basic edition of the game.
Cost in Gold: ~206
Verdict: Yes of course it’s worth buying if you want to have more than 5 characters. There are 9 professions on the game so buying enough character slots will allow you to have every profession permanently available to you.
Usage: Shared Inventory Slots are bag slots that are shared with all characters. You may place items than can be used from all characters like Infinited Salvage Tools or convenience items like Mistlock Sanctuary pass etc. This cuts down the time that you would spend logging out and logging in and transfering items through the bank.
Cost in Gold: ~182 / 492 / 733
Verdict: If bought, it should be done very late in the game. Purchasing each of the expansions will grant you 1 inventory slot for free for each expansion. So if you decide to spend coin in order to purchase the Shared Slots, make sure there’s nothing better to buy.
Usage: Purchasing this upgrade for your account will grant you the following:
Cost in Gold: ~523
Verdict: Not worth it. Too many gems and gold to be spent for such commodities. Nothing in this pack is worth 2.000 gems. The only thing worth here is golem banker which can be bought for much less gems separately. Then again if you want the mini and the legacy armor skin, well it’s really up to you if you wanna spend so much gold for them.
Usage: Purchasing this pack will grant you the following:
Cost in Gold: ~628
Verdict: Absolutely not worth the money. The Character Slot costs 600 gems. Giving 1.800 gems for a glider skin, a mini and a finisher seems not just overly priced, but one of the worst buys available in game.
Usage: Buying this pack will grant you the following:
Cost in Gold: ~628
Verdict: Although a bit more worth it than the Heart of Thorns deluxe edition, I still wouldn’t recommend it. The VIP Area in Amnoon will be usefull cause of how close to each other are the crafting stations and banks and merchants, but I would just save the gems to buy a permanent pass to Mistlock Sanctuary (see below). So, thanks but pass.
Screenshot courtesy of Omer WhiskeyAddict Ovadia of the Guild Wars 2 facebook group
Usage: Living World Season 2 is the story after Scarlet’s War. If you played GW2 during the time that it was available, you got it for free, if not, then you have to pay to unlock it. Original price if you don’t have any episodes unlocked is 1280 gems. If you buy each episode separately you will pay 1.600 gems. In case you have some of the episodes unlocked, they final price will be discounted.
Cost in Gold: ~335– 420
Verdict: Of course you must buy it! It’s the continuation of the story and worth every bit of money spent. Buying it will unlock the story season on all characters too. This should be one of the first things you buy with gems.
Screenshot courtesy of Omer WhiskeyAddict Ovadia of the Guild Wars 2 facebook group
Usage: Unlocks the story after the Heart of Thorns expansion (required in order to play). Again if you played during the time it came out, you will have it for free. If you have unlocked some of the episodes the price will be discounted. The whole package costs 960 Gems if none of the episodes is unlocked.
Cost in Gold: ~252
Verdict: Again as with LWSeason 2 it’s worth every bit of gold spent. Many new maps, story, achivements. If you have Heart of Thorns go ahead and buy LWS3 as well!
Usage: Buying this upgrade will grant ONE of your characters an extra bag slot. Note: you will get the extra bag slot in the character you purchased it, not all of them.
Cost in Gold: ~105
Verdict: Not worth early on. Late in the game it might be worth to buy it (even better if it’s on sale), but only on your main character, the one you do all the gathering and events with.
Usage: Buying this will allow you to have one more crafting licence active on one of your characters, exceeding the limit of 2 per character.
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: One of the worst items in the gem store. Absolutely not worth it. There are 9 crafts in total, and from default you can create up to 5 characters with 2 crafts in each one, meaning you get to max out all 9 crafts without purchasing additional licences. Pass on this one.
Usage: In order to use this item you need an empty Shared Inventory Slot. Upon using it on a non-level 80 character you get the following:
If used on level 80 character instead of the Package of Old Equipment you will receive a Level-80 Equipment Package.
Cost in Gold: ~526
Verdict: Well, some may find it worth buying. I don’t recommend it. You get 1 for free if you purchase HoT or PoF expansion. The extra content given is not worth the gold spent to buy this ticket. Plus you are not gonna need this to get a character to level 80 with all the Tomes of Knowledge you will have later in the game. Also don’t buy this on your first character, you will miss out the fun of leveling early in the game. Pass on this one too.
Usage: Having this cute golem, will allow you to access your bank from anywhere for 2 weeks.
Cost in Gold: ~132
Verdict: 500 gems every two weeks ain’t cheap. Heavily depending on how much you play, you may not even make the necessary gold during this time. Personally I believe traveling to the nearest city to use the bank ain’t that much of a hustle. Pass on this one too.
Usage: It’s like having an infinite use Basic Salvage Kit. The Salvage-o-matic consumes 3 copper per use
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: This one is a bit special. Buying it with money is ok I guess. Buying it with coin is a bust. If you buy it with coin, you will have to salvage the tremendous amount of 4.4 million items in order to have actually saved money. Personally I think both options are not anywhere near worth it. Just make use of the Mystic Salvage Kit
Usage: This item allows you to instantly travel to your Home Instance. Home Instances’ location depends on the race of the character. They can be filled with nodes and chests that can be harvested / opened daily.
Cost in Gold: ~237
Verdict: Same as the banker golem, not worth the money. Travelling to your home instance once a day ain’t gonna take up that much of your gold in comparison to buying this stone.
Usage: What this little gizmo does is that it teleports your character to the nearest waypoint of the next scheduled World Boss.
Cost in Gold: ~125
Verdict: Well, let me ask you a question? Are you so lazy that you are more willing to spend 400 gems for something you can do in like 5 seconds? Using the waypoint for world bosses, even if you do all of them daily (unlikely) you wont get to spend 125 gold for a very long time. Seeing which world boss is next is quite easy with a quick google search and bookmarking the website. Pass.
Usage: I put these 4 together because they are basically the same thing: they grant you access to a special place that has all conveniences close to one another. There will be all crafting stations, bank, Black Lion Merchant, Mystic Forge, all withing very close range. What makes these special items is that every once in a while the Unlimited ones become available. While the 2-week-ones aren’t that expensive, purchasing the infinite one will definitely be cheaper cause it costs 1000 gems but it’s forever. Please note that I recommend buying only one of those. No reason in buying multiple ones since they give you the same thing. Just pick the one you like 😀
Cost in Gold: ~39
Verdict: No. My recommendation would be to save the gems for when the infinite versions go on sale. Then you will make a lifelong investment that will surely be worth it. Infinite ones cost around 1000 gems and they are available for limited time in the Gem Store.
Usage: Using this item will unlock all waypoints within a region of Central Tyria (core game).
Cost in Gold: ~158
Verdict: It will definitely save you time while doing map completion. But I personally recommend NOT buying it. You will miss out of the fun of actually traveling Tyria by yourself. I ain’t saying it isn’t a worthy buy, just that it takes away a bit of the fun. I will leave this up to you. 🙂
Usage: Same with the Waypoint Unlock Box, but this one unlocks ALL waypoints in Central Tyria.
Cost in Gold: ~526
Verdict: If you are between this and the above items, buy this one. It will save a tremendous amount of time while doing map completion. But my earlier statement still stands. You miss out the fun.
Usage: Using this item will open up the bank window. Closing the window will consume the item.
Cost in Gold: ~10 / 33
Verdict: NOPE. You will get plenty from dailies, but even if you didn’t, actually travelling to the bank is by all means A LOT CHEAPER.
Usage: Consuming this item repairs all your damaged armor.
Cost in Gold: ~10/ 40
Verdict: Same. Travelling to a repair anvil is a hell of a lot cheaper.
Usage: Consuming this will spawn a merchant that anyone can use for 15 minutes
Cost in Gold: ~10/ 33
Verdict: While the same things as above apply, commanders of farming events could or guild leaders could possibly buy this, in order to make a convience of the squad and not having everyone travelling to merchants. If you are looking for personal use, I’d say… once again… NOPE.
Usage: Used in order to be revived on location. Unusable in Raids, PvP and WvW.
Cost in Gold: ~66/ 239
Verdict: While it’s good to have one or two on you in case you die before the end of a jumping puzzle or something similar, I don’t recommend buying it from the store. Instead just keep the ones you will get from Story, Achievement Chests or Daily Reward Chests
Usage: Summons a Black Lion Delivery Agent for 15 minutes, that can be used by you and others in order to buy, sell and collect from the Trading Post.
Cost in Gold: ~13/ 53
Verdict: Same things as Merchant Express apply.
Usage: In order to change the skin of a weapon, armor or back item without changing its stats you will have to consume a transmutation charge. Apply a different skill will consume one Charge.
Cost in Gold: ~40 / 72 / 160
Verdict: Absolutely not. You will get tones of this from Achievement Chests and Daily Reward Chests. You will have more than you are gonna use before you know it.
Usage: The most seen use of Mystic Forge Stones is in the crafting process of the Mystic Salvage Kit.
Cost in Gold: ~66 / 120
Verdict: Mystic Salvage Kits are the ones I use constantly, and in my opinion the most worthy salvage kit in the game. That being said, Mystic Forge Stones only drop from Achievement Chests and Chest of Black Lion Goods, meaning if you completely ignore Achievements, you won’t have enough to make the kit. I consider Achievements a great part of this game and totally recommend NOT ignoring them, but in case you do and don’t have enough stones to make the Mystic Salvage Kit, just use Master’s Salvage Kit. At the end of the day it’s not worth it purchasing from Mystic Forge Stones from the gem store.
Usage: Using the Metabolic Primer will activate a 12-hour timer. Any food eaten while this timer is active will have the same time remaining with the primer timer rounded up to the next hour.
Cost in Gold: ~40 / 147 / 716
Verdict: Primers are a nice convenience. Good late-game foods will cost you lots of gold and they only stay on for about 30 minutes. The difference in gold is not huge but buying the primer from the gem store with gold will be more expensive. Then again if you want to buy with money, I totally recommend it.
Usage: Same as the Metabolic Primer, but it affects Utility timers and not Food ones.
Cost in Gold: ~40 / 147 / 716
Verdict: Same as the Metabolic Primer. But utility items tend to be cheaper than food items, hence the difference in gold between buying utility items or buying one of them and use the Utility Primer is far greater.
Usage: Extracts Runes or Sigils without destroying the weapon or the Rune/Sigil.
Cost in Gold: ~67 / 295 / 1345
Verdict: If you want to change the rune it’s not worth it. Just put the new rune even if it destroys the previous one. You will save tones of gold you would spend on the extractor. If then again you want the rune but not the weapon/armor, just use Black Lion Salvage Kit. It has a 100% chance of recovering the upgrade while destroying the item. All in all buying the extractor is not worth it by all points of view.
Usage: Used in order to open Black Lion Chests.
Cost in Gold: ~33 / 121 / 566
Verdict: If you want to go full RNG and hope for super rare drops go ahead. You may get lucky enough to have a drop of Permant Bank Access Contract, which can be sold for 3.300 gold in the TP. Then again you may get nothing. It’s a total gamble if you will make money or not from opening Black Lion Chests.
Usage: This booster will grant you the following benefits for 2 hours:
Cost in Gold: ~27 / 118 / 421
Verdict: If you desperately need to get a reward from PvP or WvW you may buy one. But generally you will get lots of them from Achievement Chests. Personally I wouldn’t spend money to buy them from the Gem Store.
Usage: Consuming the Item Booster will grant you the following benefits for 2 hours:
Cost in Gold: ~27 / 118 / 421
Verdict: Nah, just use the ones you will get from Achievement Chests. not worth spending gold on this one. Using it will not make you back gold or save you so much time in order to be considerer a worthy buy.
Usage: Grants both Experience and Item booster benefits for 2 hours.
Cost in Gold: ~39 / 167 / 552
Verdict: Same as the Item Booster. Too much gold for the benefits they grant you. Maybe if it was around 50-75 gems it would be worth it, but not for 150 gems. Pass.
Usage: Permanently unlocks a cloth rack in the player’s home instance for daily gather. Drops:
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: This verdict will apply in all the following Node Packs. Seemingly, at first you will notice that the gold you will make from the racks is nowhere near the gold you spent to buy them. But, this is basically an account upgrade. You will have this for the rest of your time in the game. I’m a big fan of a full home instance. Plus you can always invite your friends and have them harvest everything you have too. Note: Anything you have in your home instance is also unlocked in the home instance of your other characters, but can only be gathered once per account per day. Make no mistake, this is an investment for the future, but a good one in that in my opinion. I’d give it a go.
Usage: Unlocks 3 nodes for daily harvesting:
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: See Basic Cloth Rack
Usage: Unlocks a Rack in your home instance for daily gathering. Drops:
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: See Basic Cloth Rack
Usage: Unlocks three lumbering nodes in your home instance for daily gathering. Nodes:
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: See Basic Cloth Rack
Usage: Unlocks three ore nodes in your home instance for daily gathering. Nodes:
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: See Basic Cloth Rack
Usage: These gathering tools have infinite used, meaning they will never break. They are the equivalent of Orichalcum gathering tools hence they can gather materials of any level.
Cost in Gold: ~630
Verdict: This pack will net you all 3 infinite gathering tools for 2.400, therefore it’s the cheapest of all since skinned gathering tools cost 1.000 gems each. The only difference with the skinned gathering tools below is that they come with an exclusive glyph that will give you bonus materials when gathering. In my opinion just buy this package (unless of course you like the skin or special effects of the other tools), as it is the cheapest of all. If you want to go maximum potential, then I suggest buying the two choya tools and the watchwork mining pick tool (whenever it becomes available in the gem store). At the end of the day these are all equally worthy buys. Note: each infinite gathering tool can be used on one character, though it’s possible to move them to another if needed.
Usage: These infinite gathering tools come packing with exclusive glyphs:
Cost in Gold: ~264 each
Verdict: Although it will become a bit more expensive than buying the previous package, it will reward you in the foreseeable future. In case you buy the Watchwork Mining Pick when it becomes available and combine it with the Choya tools, you will permanently have bonus materials when gathering. You will end up spending more gold for buying them, but it will reward you in due time.
Usage: Contains the following:
Cost in Gold: ~210
Verdict: In my opinion this package is not worthy any gold. Even at the first price of 800 gems what you get is not worth it. The only thing that is worthy in the bundle is the Black Lion Chest Keys, but you can buy 5 for 450 gems. Pass on this one.
Usage: Contains the following:
Cost in Gold: ~526
Verdict: Yes, it’s a worthy buy in the original price of 2.000 gems. The 2 bank tab expansion alone cost 1.200 gems. Be sure to use the bag slot expansion on your main character, as they are character-bound. I suggest buying this mid-game. It’s gonna cost a lot of gold, but I find it much worthy, since you are gonna need the bank slot expansion. Who knows, maybe you will get lucky with the Black Lion Keys and make a lot of the gold spent back. 😀
Usage: This package costs 350 gems if you haven’t unlocked the Rising Flames story part. If you have it costs 150 gems and grants access to the Lava Lounge in Ember Bay, which is basically a convenience place like Mistlock Sanctuary and Captain’s Airship.
Cost in Gold: ~40
Verdict: Not recommended. If you don’t have the story part just save up for the whole Living World Season 3 pack. As for the convenience place, as I said earlier better save up for the infinite versions when they go on sale.
Usage: Buying this bundle will grant you the following:
Cost in Gold: ~930
Verdict: This one’s a good bundle at the original price of 3.500 gems. The Character Slot, bag slots and unbreakable tools alone cost 4.000 gems if bought separately. Again if you get lucky you may make some money back with the Black Lion Chest Keys. Recommended buying if you need all the items it provides and not have any of them.
Usage: Grants you the following:
Cost in Gold: ~26 / 210
Verdict: We discussed these items above and whether they are worth buying or not. If bought with this bundle they cost 20 gems less. Still not worthy buying in any case. Pass on, nothing usefull here. 😀
That’s all folks. I understand that some of you may disagree on some items. You can always put on a discussion in the comments below. Just remember to keep it civil!
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Geowulf
Metalhead with OCD. Avid trophy / achievement hunter. Sony fanboy. Bass player and good-story lover. Most likely to be found on Guild Wars 2 unable to decide what to do next.
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Some of my counter and/or additional thoughts:
• 2-week Banker Golem
It’s not worth it in any way, and if you’re earning 500g+ per week, frankly, I think you’re overdoing it and I won’t fall for any feigned sincerity when you declare that you don’t have the time or patience to visit any banker NPC anywhere. Get in a guild that has a scribing station. It’s not far from the entry waypoint and the UI features full bank access out of necessity. Much less hassle than even hitting a city/outpost. Let’s not understate how much of a colossal waste a banker golem is of 500g. Remember that none of these items are tangible or necessary in any way. This is purely the MMO industry offering overpriced garbage, knowing that people will pay for it simply because it’s on the store.
• Copper-fed Salvage-o-matic
Yes, you need to have used it an ungodly amount of times for it to save you money overall, but it DOES save you money in the end, and it doesn’t require you to keep visiting a merchant or the Mystic Forge to get refills, and it doesn’t take up more than a single space. The majority of paid players will likely have access to at least one shared inventory slot: if there’s an item deserving of its space, then this is that item. Forget about the number of items you’d have to salvage. You stuck it in the convenience section, and this is one of the few items on the Gem Store that is of any significant convenience. Additionally, you noted later on that you think the infinite gathering tools are “worthy buys.” Why the double-standard? You’d have to have used your tools for a ridiculous amount of time before they started saving you a pittance.
• World Boss Portal Device
Moreover, a lot of players make use of smartphone companion app’s for Guild Wars and TacO—these can show you live world event timers and some of these even tell you where to go… And they’re free. And you don’t even need to tab out.
• Mistlock Sanctuary / Noble’s Folly / Royal Pass / Captain’s Airship (2 weeks), Lava Lounge Pass Bundle (2 Weeks)
Even the infinite ones aren’t worth the investment anymore. As of the Icebrood Saga update, all characters who have access to Path of Fire and any point in the Icebrood Saga have ready access to the public instance of the Eye of the North, and while these limitations sound daunting, getting to level 80 really doesn’t take a long time unless you’re intentionally stalling or just completely out of it. There is a special merchant (Lady Camilla) in this outpost who offers to outfit the area with a normal merchant, bank access, trading post access, full crafting coverage (excluding, scribe of course) and various other special merchants. If I had to estimate the gold cost for doing this, it must be less than 100g and more than 50g, and 147,000karma. Most players up until this point probably have an ungodly amount of karma at their disposal, and that amount doesn’t take long to accumulate, anyway. Furthermore, this is a one-time payment and account-wide. Sod the stupid passes.
• Central Tyria Waypoint Unlock Package
It’ll save you minutes per map. It doesn’t take long these days with mounts at our disposal to cover only waypoints. The real time-sink in map completion is everything else—especially renown hearts. This item isn’t worth its laughable cost.
• Bank Access Express, Instant Repair Canister, Merchant Express
I cannot stress enough that these three things are incredibly easy to access in a guild hall. Leaving the hall puts you back where you were, except in raids, fractals, dungeons and places that no longer allow player access for whatever reason (such as event-locked zones).
• Transmutation Charges
Map completion in practically every map gives you at least a 75% chance at one, with exceptions of Southsun Cove and home cities, which will guarantee you one per completion.
• Upgrade Extractor
If the consideration here is for grabbing an infusion from an ascended item without destroying either, then Fractals have you covered. Go to the Mistlock Observatory, visit INFUZ-5959 and buy an Infusion Extraction Device.
• Black Lion Keys
Black Lion Chests are loot crates, ‘nough said. They have ridiculous chances (this’ll quickly become apparent) and you’re not likely to make anywhere near the amount of gold you spend in the form of gems on them back, without at least investing a stupid sum in the first place.
• Experience Booster, Item Booster
Laurel merchants sell experience and items boosters in their 30m variants. None of the 2 hour boosters are worth it… Laurels are awarded freely as long as you log in to the game on separate days enough. Many players aren’t even aware of laurels and what they’re for, others hoard them because they don’t know what to buy or just don’t care.
Wow, thanks a ton for all the extra feedback Castor!
I love the PoF Prep Pack. It’s well worth the gems.
This was a great rundown of store items. I agree with almost all of your choices.
Gems are love, Gems are life.
I’ve converted all my gold to Gems and I’m so proud about it.
Fashion Wars its a thing in this game and I can call myself the Lord of Style!
Hahaha, I’m feeling you brother! It’s definitely the best implementation of a gem / gold exchange market I’ve seen in an MMO!