Okay, so I started this poll with an ulterior motive as I'm sure some folks suspect. As I write this, there are 32 votes in, which isn't a huge sample, but I don't see the direction of the poll really changing at this point.
Anyway, right now there are THREE TIMES as many folks who want to trade gold for gems than there are folks who want to buy gems with real money and trade them for gold. Now, considering that every gem you buy with gold MUST have been at some point bought buy a player that decided to trade the gem for gold, how do you think this will affect the price for gems in terms of gold? There is TRIPLE the demand for gems as there will be "supply" of gold.
I'm pretty sure this means that the price of gems are going to skyrocket, and many people will get "priced out" of the gold for gems market. So basically, I know that buying gems for gold sounds awesome because you can get CS stuff just by spending time in the game, but realize that MANY other people are thinking the same thing. And since this is technically a free market system, many people won't even be able to afford gems with gold and will either be forced to suck it up and do without or just spend some cash on gems.
The sample size you are using is WAY too low to make any conclusion out of it and the way you speak sounds like you are just in a hurry to make a point. Not saying gems will be cheap or they wont be exactly like its pictured now but to make any conclusion you need to wait more.
Also 1 factor you need to consider is that in this community people arent used to pay for FTP cash shops so while this poll may reflect how this community will play it doesnt represent the overall picture.
The sample size is small sure, but this poll isn't really the only reason I feel the way I do. EVERY single game I've played that allows you to pay real money for game currency (even through third party sites), the cost of game currency is incredibly low. I mean, you get TONS of gold for just a few bucks.
And I really don't see why GW2 is any different. The only point I'm trying to make is that a lot of folks are all excited that they will be able to buy gems for gold and thus not spend money in the CS...but this just isn't going to happen for most people. Based on history, it's very likely that none but the extreme grinders are going to be able to afford gems with their gold.
I'm using gold to buy gems. When gem prices go up enough, I'll probably sell some gems back for gold. What I won't do is buy gems with cash to sell for gold.
You can't raise prices for Gems so far, unless they change that.
It's a static price as of right now lol.
27 silver for 100 gems [at the moment] for example.
Hmmm. A fixed Gold to Gem price? Interesting..... If it's true you just /thread. lol
Actually...if that's true then there will never be enough gems on the market and it will be highly exploitable by people just sitting in the market place and "sniping" gems whenever they come up for sale .
I'm using gold to buy gems. When gem prices go up enough, I'll probably sell some gems back for gold. What I won't do is buy gems with cash to sell for gold.
You can't raise prices for Gems so far, unless they change that.
It's a static price as of right now lol.
27 silver for 100 gems [at the moment] for example.
That's just for the beta, no one will be able to buy gems except from another player at launch as far as I know. Anet wants their money, they sure aren't giving them away.
If they fix prices so that players can only sell gems for so much gold? Good! I hope that is what they do.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
I'm using gold to buy gems. When gem prices go up enough, I'll probably sell some gems back for gold. What I won't do is buy gems with cash to sell for gold.
You can't raise prices for Gems so far, unless they change that.
It's a static price as of right now lol.
27 silver for 100 gems [at the moment] for example.
Hmmm. A fixed Gold to Gem price? Interesting..... If it's true you just /thread. lol
Actually...if that's true then there will never be enough gems on the market and it will be highly exploitable by people just sitting in the market place and "sniping" gems whenever they come up for sale .
Again, fine with me.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
I think I just realy don't get all the fuss about the "fairness" of it. Some peole make it sounds like it is "bad" having money to invest or buy stuff that dosn't realy give in the end any real adventage... I mean, I am glad ANet can get extra income from social item and mini boost and stuff. The more they make a profit, the more they can reinvest on the game itself, the better NCsoft shares will fare and investor will be happy and the wheel turn.
It is B2P (or F2P since it is for me the same damn thing), no sub fee, so what is the problem? We have a french proverb here: " Tu ne peux pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre". I don't know the equivalant in english but it would translate has: " you cannot have have the butter and the money from selling the butter"... So just stop the entletement attitude, act like publisher and devellopper are suppose to be non-profict organisation (yes, they are business! what a shock) and get real. If the product is worth it for you, consume and pay what YOU want to pay for it once you have your copy and let the market decide. After all, when your business plan is to give the power to the consumer to either spend money or not in the game depending on how THEY think it is worth investing, you better damn well do a good job about it. It is your ass on the line and your employes, your investor and your reputation.
This is now my longest post on this forum because, like many, I have only reading it and very not posting alot... guess why I do appreciate SOME people opinion in here, the OP included but usualy it is like DarkPoney current signature show quite well. Just people whining over little thing, everyone over using the word Troll without any understanding of that word anymore and flaming for the fun of it.
So yhea, I am personnaly exited about GW2 (and other MMO too, don't put all your eggs in the same basket) and I will be the final judge of how much it is worth for me to put extra money into it once I will actualy play the damn game! Not based on some rumor of footage and glimpse of a closed beta that still need alot of work from what I understand. This is why there is an NDA and why it is a REALY good thing. Why would I want anyone to see and complain about an unfinished product?
Yes, I am maybe blowing a fusse right now over all this and it is sad that it is not even about the game itself but the oh so very vocal minority!
So, those of you that post critical, empyrical, post I will continue to read you with great pleasure, no matter what your opinion are because in the end it is the constructive exchanges that makes us all go forward AND make GW2 move forward has well because I know for a fact that they are paying close attention to the communauty and like me and many other, need to navigate the trash talk to get to the valid points. So keep up the good work, and let us exchange ideas like adult and we may actualy get something positive out of this.
I plan on mostly using gold to buy gems but I may decide at some point to buy gems with real money. It just depends on what the final offerings are for the cash shop.
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
We need to wait and see how the gold sinks are going to come into play before we can really read from a poll like this one.
We still don't know how easy or hard it will be to purchase gems ingame with gold earned through farming.
The unkown factor are the gold sinks that ANet announced.
Thses are important to know. Because they are there to keep the economy balanced.
For the CS user, he will purchase Gems and trade for gold.
For the non user, it will be the opposite.
The question is:
Will the Gold Sinks used to balance the economy to keep inflation down from gem purchases apply to the non CS user? or rather, Will the person out there farming mats and items to sell for gold need to overcome the same Gold Sinks that someone who is purshasing gems will have to overcome?
This is a true kunundrum for ANet. If they don't do it right, the economy will get out of balance, if they go to far in favor of the non cash shop user, then the cash shop will not earn them money, and if they side to far in favor of the cash shop user, then it becomes exceedingly difficult to amass any wealth for anyone not buying gems with money.
Though I do think you have a point, Creslin, I also think a poll here might not be that representative of the final playerbase of GW2 and thus be a bit misleading...
One thing I'm curious about is whether "buy gold with gems" is going to be the more hardcore-ish choice (and I'm using hardcore solely in terms of "time invested" here)... We usually talk about "casuals who pay their way" and "hardcores who put in time", as if time and money is mutually exclusive. Well, they're not - not in the amounts needed for "item shopping" anyway. I can see "hardcore" players putting both time *and* money into the game to get ahead.
I am very successful with AH in any MMO in the past that I have played, therefore I will use my knowledge of the market to make the gold then use it on gems to buy what ever sparkel pony is offered.
The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.
First thing if im really desperade or need somthing at the exact moment of couse ill buy gem and at the same time im suporting the game and staff.
from the other hand iknow is not really nesesarry cause ican have more fun playing and get it miself ,basically ihave a shoice.
is not a bad thing either of both but like isay if you want and have money go for it if not have fun and farm karma and buy it or buy whit gold ingame if you want somthing its not complicated or a big issue,its simple as that
I just plan on buying what I want/need from the cash shop, I'll probably max every characters available bank/inventory space because I tend to horde stuff, I'll also buy extra character slots somewhere down the line, if I feel like a treat and the game is as great as it's looking I'll also have no qualms on getting myself a few mini pets here and there. I have absolutely no intention of playing the gem market, I'll just focus on enjoying the game.
On the price of gems; Anet did a great job of keeping the prices stable in GW, the merchants prices are based on supply and demand, played the game for years and ectos never got out of hand (the alternate currency, a rare drop), do we know if Anet will be taking steps to keep the market under control? I feel it's likely.
If anyone is dumb enough to buy gems and sell them for gold I will gladly part the fool and his money and pimp out my character in some appearance gear.
Gonna buy character slots for real cash, planning on spending as much on the cash shop every month as I would if it was a subscription, but I won't use gems to get gold.
I respect you for what you just said. I wish I could do that, but beyond the game access fee or box sale I don't see the point in thinking I should have to keep paying to access what I paid for already. It is the setback of these games though they require a massive backend server and maintenance crew to keep the game running. At least they respect that I am inhabiting their servers, and keeping the player population thriving by not having me pay to access ontop of the initial game fee. So I will play as long as possible until the in game item & currency farmers start to ruin it by asking for real cash for something that is already obtainable by anyone. It will take awhile, but eventually it will piss me off. Because ultimately the developers don't care about it, they let it happen because it doesn't really affect anything financially for them. If however gamers would stop cheating, and rise up to be more truthful and make it more about skill than spending extra money amongst themselves we wouldn't have to worry about this behavior. But unfortunately there are going to be those bad few even coming from the developers side, maybe an ex-developer that was terminated, that will expose the exploit to start this never ending cycle of the cesspool of the MMORPG gaming industry.
depends on how much it will cost vs how much it will be needed, if boosts will work as they currently are in WvWvW it will be pretty much a must have (10% dmg bost, 20% hp regen, 20% speed boost).
If gems will cost more than buy them with gold i will buy gold from gold farmer for all i care, if it wont be a big deal and youll just need the char solts if you want alts then again depending on how easy it will be to get gold vs gems.
Gonna buy character slots for real cash, planning on spending as much on the cash shop every month as I would if it was a subscription, but I won't use gems to get gold.
I respect you for what you just said. I wish I could do that, but beyond the game access fee or box sale I don't see the point in thinking I should have to keep paying to access what I paid for already. It is the setback of these games though they require a massive backend server and maintenance crew to keep the game running. At least they respect that I am inhabiting their servers, and keeping the player population thriving by not having me pay to access ontop of the initial game fee. So I will play as long as possible until the in game item & currency farmers start to ruin it by asking for real cash for something that is already obtainable by anyone. It will take awhile, but eventually it will piss me off. Because ultimately the developers don't care about it, they let it happen because it doesn't really affect anything financially for them. If however gamers would stop cheating, and rise up to be more truthful and make it more about skill than spending extra money amongst themselves we wouldn't have to worry about this behavior. But unfortunately there are going to be those bad few even coming from the developers side, maybe an ex-developer that was terminated, that will expose the exploit to start this never ending cycle of the cesspool of the MMORPG gaming industry.
Everquest 1 and Everquest 2 already do this.
Players spam the chat channels selling station cash for the cash shop for in game currency. So you can buy in game currency using your hard earned cash.
Players spam the chat channels selling station cash for the cash shop for in game currency. So you can buy in game currency using your hard earned cash.
The only legitimate way for the developers to sell in game items is if they were purely cosmetic, not tradeable, and require an access fee for the game. The game however can not require a reoccuring pay to access fee. If the game already has a reoccuring access fee then all items should be obtainable by all players, meaning there should be no other items sold on top even if they are cosmetic unless they have a clause in the agreement from the very beginning of the game. If however the agreement changes after the game is released then they should be held liable for the damages they are causing their players. The reason the game has to have an access fee, and not free to play is because then it allows Joe Schmoe the ability to resell it in game spamming the chat channel ruining it for everybody else in the game. If however you require an access fee it forces you to be absolutely sure that is the in game cosmetic item you want to buy. I am not knocking free to play games because this is about the only way I would agree with this sort of manipulation since you don't pay anything to play the game. This is very hard for me to word properly as an online gamer. One in particular that has standards for what makes an online game honest and fair for all online players involved, and I hope there are other gamers out there who share this same point of view. I hope this made sense because it is very hard to word properly the way I feel about the fairness and honesty of an MMORPG that is fee required with a reoccuring pay to access payment model.
Players spam the chat channels selling station cash for the cash shop for in game currency. So you can buy in game currency using your hard earned cash.
The only legitimate way for the developers to sell in game items is if they were purely cosmetic, not tradeable, and require an access fee for the game. The game however can not require a reoccuring pay to access fee. If the game already has a reoccuring access fee then all items should be obtainable by all players, meaning there should be no other items sold on top even if they are cosmetic unless they have a clause in the agreement from the very beginning of the game. If however the agreement changes after the game is released then they should be held liable for the damages they are causing their players. The reason the game has to have an access fee, and not free to play is because then it allows Joe Schmoe the ability to resell it in game spamming the chat channel ruining it for everybody else in the game. If however you require an access fee it forces you to be absolutely sure that is the in game cosmetic item you want to buy. I am not knocking free to play games because this is about the only way I would agree with this sort of manipulation since you don't pay anything to play the game. This is very hard for me to word properly as an online gamer. One in particular that has standards for what makes an online game honest and fair for all online players involved, and I hope there are other gamers out there who share this same point of view. I hope this made sense because it is very hard to word properly the way I feel about the fairness and honesty of an MMORPG that is fee required with a reoccuring pay to access payment model.
Sony has been double dipping for a while. You buy the game then pay a monthly fee and buy items from the cash shop or even buy cash shop currency and sell it in game to other players for ingame currency.
I played the first Guild Wars game through the Trilogy. Neever did buy EotN. I also never found a need to buy a single thing off the cash shop.
For GW2 I have a similar plan. I am not against the cash shop but I find everything on there useless. Occasionally there may be some costume or cosmetic armor set that I will want and I will also buy some Transmog stones to apply the stats from my other gear pieces. Other then that the boost potions are all pointless, and I find the chest keys pointless since I can just buy the items from players with gold if its somethign I want rather then paying cash for a key to get a random item from a chest that I may or may not like the result of.
I might get some gems for gold if I feel that i need more character slots or bank space. The rest of the stuff seems useless to me and I will only get those 2 things in worst case scenario.
Cash for gems. If demand is high, and it looks to be, the trade imbalance will favor the gem seller.
If its anything like others I've seen with this concept (Aeria does it with fun cards), it will end up like $5.00 for 20 hours work of wealth creation. That's slave labor wage.
Ken Fisher - Semi retired old fart Network Administrator, now working in Network Security. I don't Forum PVP. If you feel I've attacked you, it was probably by accident. When I don't understand, I ask. Such is not intended as criticism.
Cash for gems. If demand is high, and it looks to be, the trade imbalance will favor the gem seller.
If its anything like others I've seen with this concept (Aeria does it with fun cards), it will end up like $5.00 for 20 hours work of wealth creation. That's slave labor wage.
Bingo.
I think it's funny there are a lot of posts in this thread basically calling people who will buy gems and trade them for gold "suckers." But who is more of a sucker? Someone who grinds for 20 hours to save $5.00, or someone who spends $5.00 to save 20 hours of grinding? Considering that $5.00 is less than minimum wage...I'll let you come to your own conclusions.
Personally, I'm not going to trade gems for gold just because I like the progression aspect of RPGs and I feel like "paying" for my gold would spoil it (which is incidentally why I don't like this whole idea in the first place). But I realize who is going to get the better end of this bargain.
Comments
The sample size is small sure, but this poll isn't really the only reason I feel the way I do. EVERY single game I've played that allows you to pay real money for game currency (even through third party sites), the cost of game currency is incredibly low. I mean, you get TONS of gold for just a few bucks.
And I really don't see why GW2 is any different. The only point I'm trying to make is that a lot of folks are all excited that they will be able to buy gems for gold and thus not spend money in the CS...but this just isn't going to happen for most people. Based on history, it's very likely that none but the extreme grinders are going to be able to afford gems with their gold.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
Actually...if that's true then there will never be enough gems on the market and it will be highly exploitable by people just sitting in the market place and "sniping" gems whenever they come up for sale
.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
That's just for the beta, no one will be able to buy gems except from another player at launch as far as I know. Anet wants their money, they sure aren't giving them away.
If they fix prices so that players can only sell gems for so much gold? Good! I hope that is what they do.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
Again, fine with me.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
~Albert Einstein
I think I just realy don't get all the fuss about the "fairness" of it. Some peole make it sounds like it is "bad" having money to invest or buy stuff that dosn't realy give in the end any real adventage... I mean, I am glad ANet can get extra income from social item and mini boost and stuff. The more they make a profit, the more they can reinvest on the game itself, the better NCsoft shares will fare and investor will be happy and the wheel turn.
It is B2P (or F2P since it is for me the same damn thing), no sub fee, so what is the problem? We have a french proverb here: " Tu ne peux pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre". I don't know the equivalant in english but it would translate has: " you cannot have have the butter and the money from selling the butter"... So just stop the entletement attitude, act like publisher and devellopper are suppose to be non-profict organisation (yes, they are business! what a shock) and get real. If the product is worth it for you, consume and pay what YOU want to pay for it once you have your copy and let the market decide. After all, when your business plan is to give the power to the consumer to either spend money or not in the game depending on how THEY think it is worth investing, you better damn well do a good job about it. It is your ass on the line and your employes, your investor and your reputation.
This is now my longest post on this forum because, like many, I have only reading it and very not posting alot... guess why
I do appreciate SOME people opinion in here, the OP included but usualy it is like DarkPoney current signature show quite well. Just people whining over little thing, everyone over using the word Troll without any understanding of that word anymore and flaming for the fun of it.
So yhea, I am personnaly exited about GW2 (and other MMO too, don't put all your eggs in the same basket) and I will be the final judge of how much it is worth for me to put extra money into it once I will actualy play the damn game! Not based on some rumor of footage and glimpse of a closed beta that still need alot of work from what I understand. This is why there is an NDA and why it is a REALY good thing. Why would I want anyone to see and complain about an unfinished product?
Yes, I am maybe blowing a fusse right now over all this and it is sad that it is not even about the game itself but the oh so very vocal minority!
So, those of you that post critical, empyrical, post I will continue to read you with great pleasure, no matter what your opinion are because in the end it is the constructive exchanges that makes us all go forward AND make GW2 move forward has well because I know for a fact that they are paying close attention to the communauty and like me and many other, need to navigate the trash talk to get to the valid points. So keep up the good work, and let us exchange ideas like adult and we may actualy get something positive out of this.
I plan on mostly using gold to buy gems but I may decide at some point to buy gems with real money. It just depends on what the final offerings are for the cash shop.
You want me to pay to play a game I already paid for???
Be afraid.....The dragons are HERE!
We need to wait and see how the gold sinks are going to come into play before we can really read from a poll like this one.
We still don't know how easy or hard it will be to purchase gems ingame with gold earned through farming.
The unkown factor are the gold sinks that ANet announced.
Thses are important to know. Because they are there to keep the economy balanced.
For the CS user, he will purchase Gems and trade for gold.
For the non user, it will be the opposite.
The question is:
Will the Gold Sinks used to balance the economy to keep inflation down from gem purchases apply to the non CS user? or rather, Will the person out there farming mats and items to sell for gold need to overcome the same Gold Sinks that someone who is purshasing gems will have to overcome?
This is a true kunundrum for ANet. If they don't do it right, the economy will get out of balance, if they go to far in favor of the non cash shop user, then the cash shop will not earn them money, and if they side to far in favor of the cash shop user, then it becomes exceedingly difficult to amass any wealth for anyone not buying gems with money.
Me, I'll try to do neither and see how that goes.
Though I do think you have a point, Creslin, I also think a poll here might not be that representative of the final playerbase of GW2 and thus be a bit misleading...
One thing I'm curious about is whether "buy gold with gems" is going to be the more hardcore-ish choice (and I'm using hardcore solely in terms of "time invested" here)... We usually talk about "casuals who pay their way" and "hardcores who put in time", as if time and money is mutually exclusive. Well, they're not - not in the amounts needed for "item shopping" anyway. I can see "hardcore" players putting both time *and* money into the game to get ahead.
I am very successful with AH in any MMO in the past that I have played, therefore I will use my knowledge of the market to make the gold then use it on gems to buy what ever sparkel pony is offered.
The truth may be puzzling. It may take some work to grapple with. It may be counterintuitive. It may contradict deeply held prejudices. It may not be consonant with what we desperately want to be true. But our preferences do not determine what's true.
Carl Sagan-
First thing if im really desperade or need somthing at the exact moment of couse ill buy gem and at the same time im suporting the game and staff.
from the other hand iknow is not really nesesarry cause ican have more fun playing and get it miself ,basically ihave a shoice.
is not a bad thing either of both but like isay if you want and have money go for it if not have fun and farm karma and buy it or buy whit gold ingame if you want somthing its not complicated or a big issue,its simple as that
I just plan on buying what I want/need from the cash shop, I'll probably max every characters available bank/inventory space because I tend to horde stuff, I'll also buy extra character slots somewhere down the line, if I feel like a treat and the game is as great as it's looking I'll also have no qualms on getting myself a few mini pets here and there. I have absolutely no intention of playing the gem market, I'll just focus on enjoying the game.
On the price of gems; Anet did a great job of keeping the prices stable in GW, the merchants prices are based on supply and demand, played the game for years and ectos never got out of hand (the alternate currency, a rare drop), do we know if Anet will be taking steps to keep the market under control? I feel it's likely.
If anyone is dumb enough to buy gems and sell them for gold I will gladly part the fool and his money and pimp out my character in some appearance gear.
I respect you for what you just said. I wish I could do that, but beyond the game access fee or box sale I don't see the point in thinking I should have to keep paying to access what I paid for already. It is the setback of these games though they require a massive backend server and maintenance crew to keep the game running. At least they respect that I am inhabiting their servers, and keeping the player population thriving by not having me pay to access ontop of the initial game fee. So I will play as long as possible until the in game item & currency farmers start to ruin it by asking for real cash for something that is already obtainable by anyone. It will take awhile, but eventually it will piss me off. Because ultimately the developers don't care about it, they let it happen because it doesn't really affect anything financially for them. If however gamers would stop cheating, and rise up to be more truthful and make it more about skill than spending extra money amongst themselves we wouldn't have to worry about this behavior. But unfortunately there are going to be those bad few even coming from the developers side, maybe an ex-developer that was terminated, that will expose the exploit to start this never ending cycle of the cesspool of the MMORPG gaming industry.
depends on how much it will cost vs how much it will be needed, if boosts will work as they currently are in WvWvW it will be pretty much a must have (10% dmg bost, 20% hp regen, 20% speed boost).
If gems will cost more than buy them with gold i will buy gold from gold farmer for all i care, if it wont be a big deal and youll just need the char solts if you want alts then again depending on how easy it will be to get gold vs gems.
Everquest 1 and Everquest 2 already do this.
Players spam the chat channels selling station cash for the cash shop for in game currency. So you can buy in game currency using your hard earned cash.
Anything that i feel that "I" need i will probably pay up front with cash, other then that i will check out the trading post for gold -> gem sale
The only legitimate way for the developers to sell in game items is if they were purely cosmetic, not tradeable, and require an access fee for the game. The game however can not require a reoccuring pay to access fee. If the game already has a reoccuring access fee then all items should be obtainable by all players, meaning there should be no other items sold on top even if they are cosmetic unless they have a clause in the agreement from the very beginning of the game. If however the agreement changes after the game is released then they should be held liable for the damages they are causing their players. The reason the game has to have an access fee, and not free to play is because then it allows Joe Schmoe the ability to resell it in game spamming the chat channel ruining it for everybody else in the game. If however you require an access fee it forces you to be absolutely sure that is the in game cosmetic item you want to buy. I am not knocking free to play games because this is about the only way I would agree with this sort of manipulation since you don't pay anything to play the game. This is very hard for me to word properly as an online gamer. One in particular that has standards for what makes an online game honest and fair for all online players involved, and I hope there are other gamers out there who share this same point of view. I hope this made sense because it is very hard to word properly the way I feel about the fairness and honesty of an MMORPG that is fee required with a reoccuring pay to access payment model.
The only thing I'll be buying is 3 character slots, apart from that, the cash shop could have a level 90 sword and I wouldn't give two middle fingers.
This is not a game.
If i like the game the way i think i will....
i will be buying gems both with ingame gold & with real money at some point to support game.
Sony has been double dipping for a while. You buy the game then pay a monthly fee and buy items from the cash shop or even buy cash shop currency and sell it in game to other players for ingame currency.
I played the first Guild Wars game through the Trilogy. Neever did buy EotN. I also never found a need to buy a single thing off the cash shop.
For GW2 I have a similar plan. I am not against the cash shop but I find everything on there useless. Occasionally there may be some costume or cosmetic armor set that I will want and I will also buy some Transmog stones to apply the stats from my other gear pieces. Other then that the boost potions are all pointless, and I find the chest keys pointless since I can just buy the items from players with gold if its somethign I want rather then paying cash for a key to get a random item from a chest that I may or may not like the result of.
I might get some gems for gold if I feel that i need more character slots or bank space. The rest of the stuff seems useless to me and I will only get those 2 things in worst case scenario.
I'll only buy expansions with real money. If I need something from the cash shop, I'll get gems with gold.
Cash for gems. If demand is high, and it looks to be, the trade imbalance will favor the gem seller.
If its anything like others I've seen with this concept (Aeria does it with fun cards), it will end up like $5.00 for 20 hours work of wealth creation. That's slave labor wage.
Bingo.
I think it's funny there are a lot of posts in this thread basically calling people who will buy gems and trade them for gold "suckers." But who is more of a sucker? Someone who grinds for 20 hours to save $5.00, or someone who spends $5.00 to save 20 hours of grinding? Considering that $5.00 is less than minimum wage...I'll let you come to your own conclusions.
Personally, I'm not going to trade gems for gold just because I like the progression aspect of RPGs and I feel like "paying" for my gold would spoil it (which is incidentally why I don't like this whole idea in the first place). But I realize who is going to get the better end of this bargain.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?