Possible side effect of the loot scaling?

Less gold = less can afford = less demand at high price = price goes down. Already very noticeable with ecto and sup vigor, the high dyes will follow suit to some degree.

There, did your math for you. Not that I can really see how expensive cosmetics such as 15k armor/dyes impact the truly "casual" gamer.

Drifting a wee bit off-topic... but I'm a pretty casual player. I also have 9 areas cleared towards my vanquisher title in Nightfall with my mesmer. Did Desjardin Estates last night... wound up +25 platinum. Took a full party of heroes and henchies. The Elite Warrior Tome I got and sold in two minutes helped. There's plenty of gold to be had just by playing.

Back on topic... still no gold sellers on eBay.

i got a req9 one yesterday, i only farm for items i want. i dont buy items i want.

why deal with a broken trade system where prices aren't compromised of demand/rarity, instead its compromised of what people say or think they're worth.

its a waste of time.

First of all the gold-sellers on eBay being removed has nothing to do with loot-scaling. Period. Also, as a side effect, I had to choke back the bile of a Diablo 2 era flashback as I have been seeing in-game spambots advertising their gold-selling sites. So eBay removes the sellers from eBay, and they jump in-game and spam us with advertisements to go buy the gold from their sites instead. Gold sellers on eBay had the side effect of minimizing in-game spam-bots it seems. Anet is banning these spammers as they crop up, I hope they have better success than Blizzard did in Diablo 2.

Increase in playing time I am sure is due to all the excellent updates that were released concurrently with the loot-scaling nerf. People are chasing the new vanquisher titles, and completing the uncompleted Sunspear and Lightbringer titles that they had been waiting on.

However, if the loot-scaling change had been introduced as a stand alone update, this would not be the case. I know plenty folks that moved on or are "taking a break" because of that nerf, and it certainly has taken the fun out of solo-farming for me. In fact, after an initial flurry of vanquishing various area's, I find myself sitting in game, intending to go "have fun" in the manner that Anet has decided I am allowed to "have fun", but more often than not. I idle in some outpost while surfing the net on my other PC.

For example, last night I sat in game for maybe 4 hours, but only made two attempts at beating a mission (while trying to move one of my characters closer to a late-game armor crafter) before I realized I was having more fun clicking "Stumble" on my second PC than I was playing GW.

The loot-scaling nerf has taken a lot of my enthusiasm out of the game. They mentioned that selling in-game items to other players would maintain interest for recently nerfed solo-farmers, but while I am quite content to solo-farm for an hour or two, the idea of spamming districts with "WTS" while trying to get a decent price for an item is painful to me. There is nothing "fun" about that. An integrated trade-system has been sorely lacking for two years now. If they are going to push people to trade items, give us a trade system please.

I don't know about gold for cash, I farm to get greens for heroes, cash for 15K armor, and the occasional item unlock. People who bought and sold gold had no realistic effect on me, I didn't buy high dollar items from players. It was officially mentioned that one of the reasons for the nerf was that casual players couldn't afford the high dollar items. Doesn't that make sense? As my girlfriend (who plays, I have purchased 8 copies of the various chapters for myself and others) put it when she ran out of gold for playing Rings of Fortune and I offered her some gold, "I don't play all the time like you, I don't deserve the same titles, keep it." Casual players don't need perfect Dead Swords for all of their heroes. The excellent balancing has seen to that. Good stat items are available to all and that leaves very few things to set players apart. So hardcore people farm for Colossal Scimitars and such. Makes sense.

In regards to "things going well", again I am sure that the stats Gaile quotes would not be as promising if the loot-scaling nerf was a stand alone update. The excellent Hard Mode opportunities are what is driving people to play after that update. So let's try to associate the proper causes with the proper effects. I read elsewhere they are banning 2000 bots a week. That is fantastic if that number is correct, and I applaud them for that. I wish that the focus was more on stopping bots and less on stopping farmers.

Solo-farming was my favorite part of the game, like christmas watching the loot drop. Now when I drop 20 guys and get two cheap-white items, it just depresses me. I am doing my best to go play the game how Anet wants me to, and to enjoy the playstyle that Anet tells me that they have made the most rewarding, but my heart isn't much in it anymore.

Sorry for the long post.

-3D House of Beef

gold prices went up sixfold from what I can gather from googling

bold added for emphasis

Please explain how the average player is making more. Unless the average player plays in hard mode (assuming you can make more money in hard mode) I really do not understand this.

I play in hard mode... working on vanquisher. I'm making a lot more money. 25 plat last night clearing Desjardin Estates including the Elite Warrior Tome I found there and sold. Full party of heroes and henchies. Left some whites on the ground due to full inventory.

Well lucky you, then. Believe me, getting more than 5K while clearing an area is rare. I'm not very casual, so I clear more areas per day. Most I got from clearing an entire area is 6K (including the reward).

Well minus 3K for lockpicks, some minor gold for buying Morale Boosts, and a Superior Salvage Kit, about 500 gold remains.

I've yet to find any elite tomes, as well.

The better Gold drop rate is a laugh, Last week I've only found about 6 gold drops. That used to be about 6 a DAY when the loot scaling was normal. Well not that I care, cause 99.9% of the gold drops is useless now, and the other 0.1% is so hard to sell that it's almost costing money.

My guildies (who didn't quit GW yet) don't seem to be getting any good drops either. Except for the hardcore farmers, of course, who still get ecto's and golden colossal scimitars.

As for the bots... Still farming, and Ascalon inter dis 1 is still the place to get gw cash.

I'm a somewhat casual player and at the beginnining of the update I was somewhat disappointed with the drop rate. I've noticed now though that a lot of things that were prized for their "1337"-ness are going down in price (I'm one of those people who love collecting rare things) so it's kinda killed my enthusiasm. Still I can't complain - I'm learning how to farm HM and I'm getting at least 1-3 golds per run. I think I've probably ID'ed 30+ golds within the last 3 days of CASUAl farming in HM (2-3 runs in an area before I get bored and move on). I don't farm for money anyways.

I would have to agree with A LOT of people in this thread - what Anet said about making more money by selling the new valuable items - it's not working out. How do we sell valuable things if people have the same stuff from farming themselves or because they can't raise the money due to this update? lol. Not to mention having the patience to sit and spam the junk you're selling. It's not really worth the time. Still, plenty of things to do/titles to go for - the intro of HM and loot-scaling made things more interesting for me. I'm looking forward to GW:EN and GW2 to have new items/armors to obsess after.

As more skins drop and prices go down, gold is theoretically (I say theoretically because it is technically a market wide change, NOT deflation, due to loot scaling) worth more. Thus, dollar prices for it go up.

All I know is - I have less gold, which is apparently intentional, but the only things I use my gold for (mostly signets of capture and skills) have fixed prices, and are now even more unaffordable than they were before. Fantastic.

IDIOT....ebay banned selling of virtual items 5 months ago....

LOOY SCALING hasn't had ANY effect

YOU CAN OR COULD still buy from sellers sites....

Why do you think or can SEE so many bots running??????????????

I have had people in my guild rell me that they get more gold item drops, i havn't gotten any gold item drops. i have hower started to get more rare crafting items as drops. i got like 12 bolts of silk one day. 7 in one drop and 5 in the other drop.

I just farm it.

It's kind of pointless to play the missions. There's no big reward in the end since I'll still use some other title.

Now if I could choose a green item at the end of each campaign I complete in hard mode, including bonuses... I might be more interested.

I’m of the opinion that the “loot scaling” is a double-edged blade. Yes, it accomplished one goal of making it more difficult for bot farmers, and then the inherent gold sales for rl money (which I feel is a welcome change), but it has also made it much more taxing for players to acquire gold. I have made so much of my money from farming or running, but mainly farming as of late. I used to be able see a armor set that I liked (not necessarily needed) and then go out and do some solo farm runs for a few days and be able to get that armor. This isn’t the first time farming has been “nerfed,” for lack of a better word, remember old school griffon farming? I was upset when that happened, but there were still other ways of farming. Not anymore , or at least that I have been able to find. I go out to farm and don’t really get anything if I’m solo. So much of my enjoyment from this game is based in that dance between seeing something I want and then being able to go out and farming in order to save and get that thing. I really wish there were some way to prevent bot farming without penalizing those who take enjoyment from being able to farm without people or henchmen. I love Guildwars, and support all the great things that A-net have provided, but then again I really do hope that something changes about how drops are distributed.

As others have said, since gold is worth more now can we please have 12K armors and Cap Sigs that are worth 750g or something.

It really makes it harder to get all the cap titles when gold is harder to come by.

Why is cash so hard? I consider myself a casual player. I've never farmed, and I've had enough cash to get Lucky (2) and Tyrian and Canthan skill hunter titles (that's about 200 plat or so). I still have enough money to buy 15k armor if I wanted to (which I really don't, as the texture is only slightly better than the 1.5k versions and the model is the same), and I've really only notice my cash dip significantly when I've been skill hunting during the exp weekends because my skill points go up much faster than my cash does.

Playing the missions often earns me about 2-3k per mission, which has gotten me plenty far along. The only trouble I've had is skill capping in Cantha and Elona, where I can get to a boss in less than 5 minutes and only make about 250 gold on the way there, compared to the one plat I spent on the cap signet.

I agree that skills should be cheaper, or at the very least cap signets since they're not even skills, but otherwise I haven't had any money issues.

Excellent work discouraging the use of sites to purchase gold. It's a welcome change by me.

However...

The economy changes. The prices of rares, greens, and rare materials will constantly change. There are a few things, however, that haven't, and should.

Skills. Even now that (I'm probably losing all credibility I have as a GW player in ANet's eyes with this sentence) gold is more difficult to get, the skill price is still high. 1k isn't too much, generally, but the amount of money people will spend on skills (It's nice to have more than one usable skill bar) will increase during the game a lot. Lower skill prices.

Armor. I am focusing mainly on 15k armors here. (10k, Elonian) Even though money is more difficult to acquire, especially for an average player, the prices of these are still quite high. Lower the prices of these armors by 33% or so. Yes, the prices of materials for these armors change, but the bulk of the money spent on them is in the cost of the armor itself. (10k/15k per piece)

Golds. I actually am very fond of the increase in rare item drops in hard mode. I have receieve quite a few rares in less than an hour. My guildies have had better luck, and are enjoying their new items. Are they any more wealthy in game? Not really, as the prices of golds are significantly less, and most aren't worth selling. Though, they don't really need the money, as the rares they are getting are worth keeping. The downside to this is that it encourages interaction with other players. Er, it isn't bad to interact with others in large games such as Guild Wars, no. However, we shouldn't have to in order to sell these rare items to make money. The old "solo farming" gave players the opportunity to make money without the need to spam (often for hours) in large cities to sell their items.

Bottom line - I like how hard mode works. It's hard, and we should indeed get better drops than in normal mode. However, prices on many items don't change based off of the economy. This NEEDS changing. You also lowered the amount of bots and annoying "50k ok" messages I get from farmers from a paticular continent. This is good, of course. However, I still fail to see how a casual player is meant to be able to purchase things he or she desires without spamming in large cities for possibly hours ("Casual" players shouldn't have hours to spend selling items)

Sorry in advance for anything that may be interpreted as rude...

Also: Due to my lacking of anything better to do, I have hours to devote to farming and selling rares. I, a "hardcore" player, have had a much easier time to maintain a cash flow then some of my guildies whom play the game less often. They will often complain that in the hour or so they'll spend a day on GW, they can't make any money to spend. The loot scaling isn't effecting me, a devoted GW player, as much as some of my casual playing guildies. I think that if your intent was to balance out the money between casual and "hardcore" players, that it isn't working out. I'm still pretty wealthy, and they are more poor than they used to be. (I share my money with them, though )

I must check ebay, if this is true, then thats great!!!

This happened months ago. There was even an announcement about it. Might have been from ebay and sent to registered users though. I can't remember now. And ebay wasn't targetting just GW but all the online game gold sellers. They've been getting a bit of a black eye due to the number of gold sellers there. Took them long enough to do something about it.

He's right

i got one black dye(around 7.5k sold) and including that i got 40k in about 2 days - maximum 8-9 hours just doing missions, not farming.

Great move Anet, missions are much more fun(even though i was going thru third or fourth time)

GW gold sellers gone? Hahaha! They may not have searchable websites, but the sellers are still around. I do runs from Ascalon to ToA, & LA to AC. As soon as I place my 'ad', I am 'whispered,' "GW gold cheapest prices around. Go to "www.xyzzyw.com" Delivered within 10 minutes of receipt of payment." "Go to "www.xyzzyx.com\help" if you have problems. I have thought about taking screen shots, but I figured it wouldn't do any good. AC has the most occurences of this, but have received similar messages in LA.