The new Guild Wars 2 mount skins have angered the popular MMO’s players, with the RNG aspect of the new cosmetic items potentially costing players $120 in order for them to get their hands on the skin they want.
The issue with the new mount skins stems from the game’s “Mount Adoption License,” a system which will give the player one of 30 random skins. These licenses can be purchased individually for 400 gems / $5, or in packs of 10 for 3400 gems / $42.50, or all 30 can be bagged for a cool 9600 gems / $120. This 30-pack is only available for one week, so after that week has expired then there’s a chance that players will fork out even more to get their chosen skin, if the skin they want happens to be the last skin they unlock.
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These mount skins can’t be purchased individually, meaning that there’s no telling whether or not your Mount Adoption License will grant you access to a skin you actually want. That players are being asked to pay $5 for a small chance that they’ll receive a desirable mount skin has riled up the game’s community, with the top post on the Guild Wars 2 subreddit reading: “400 gems. For one opportunity for RNG to give you the mount skin you want IF YOU CAN GET IT ON YOUR FIRST TRY WITH ODDS OF 1/30. [ArenaNet] just gave us the biggest f***ing rip off of the game’s history. Jumping from mounts being 400 (320) gems per skin with the halloween set to this ridiculous shit when most of these skins are just texture redesign anyways is f***ing ridiculous.”
The Guild Wars 2 mount skins are only cosmetic items, so they do not grant those who buy them any additional perks or stat boosts, though many MMO players are heavily into their customization options so they’re therefore a big part of the game for certain sects of Guild Wars 2‘s player base. Placing all of these skins behind an RNG loot system with a very small chance that players will get the skin they want is therefore frustrating, with these low odds only being increased if the player forks out a considerable amount of money into Mount Adoption Licenses.
The new Guild Wars 2 mount skins are available from the new Black Lion Stables, with the game’s Black Lion Trading Company facilitating the purchasing of Mount Adoption Licenses in order to obtain the new cosmetics. At the moment the game’s forums and social media pages are being flooded with complaints from angry players, so it remains to be seen if these criticisms will cause ArenaNet to change its stance on their inclusion, or at least increase the odds of players getting their hands on a skin they want.