Do we have cash shop we can take a look at yet? (An attempted unbias / unprovoking look at the cas

Calintz333

Is there any cash shop released yet or something official that we can take a look at? I worry about possible issues that could arise.

 

I spent several days research this as much as I could with the information available, I hope that this discussion does not get locked for I truly attempted to express my concerns in the most respectful and unprovoking way possible.

 

The cash shop has been a really iffy issue with this game for a lot of players. A lot of media outlets are expressing heavy concern with the rumored inclusions in this games item mall calling it potentially "pay to win".  I happen to have a major concern with some of the items that are rumored including, the very worrying rumor that you can buy in game gold with real life money.

Yes, they do claim this will take money out of (RMT), however this may or may not resolve the issue because people could still sell gems at 3^rd party cites if they undercut the going prices.  I feel as though this may reduce the problem, but not really stop or eliminate it, my personal feelings on this is that it’s simply an excuse to sell gold for real money in order for Anet to have more revenue, in turn more development for the game.

 

I do see how the item mall system and the gold for gems system could benefit F2P players as well. Allowing them to purchase all the items that are sold at the cash shop. My question is, why the middle man? Why not just let people buy the cosmetics with actual gold without having to implement a gem system?

Second, I worry about the very real advantage that having gems in game can have for a player.  I don’t mean cosmetics or xp boosts etc, that stuff is fine in my opinion.

 

I am more worried about the rumored crafting boosts revival stones and such. These items could give players a significant advantage in PvE content, albeit not drastically major. Additionally, the ability to buy influence for your guilds with gold is very worrisome as well. If you can buy influence with cash, then that doesn’t seem fair. As many of us know, influence does give major advantages in game including karma which allows you to buy certain rewards faster. This seems like it would give players a small advantage (at least in the beginning months of the game) in PvE. Lastly, if you can use influence to buy buffs in World v. World PvP, then we start running into some major problems with this system, where cash buys influence, which then buys buffs in PvP. At this point I really begin to worry about the balance of the proposed / rumored cash shop items.

 

I tried my best to research this for many days before I posted, I also attempted to make solid points as to why I have the concerns I have.

 

If you are able to provide me with some counter claims that would alleviate my worries about this system, most importantly the influence for buffs issue, then I would really appreciate that, because as it stands right now, from my own research, I am not sure that I will want to buy GW2 based on the information / leeks/rumors that are currently out there.  This is again, why I feel it is so important to take a look at an actual official cash shop before making my decision. And thus, why I am asking if there is one.

Amjoco

No don't start these again please! It's only a few days until Beta. Just wait and see!!!!