I was flipping through the Guild Wars 2 cash shop the other day when I was reminded that the game actually sells hero points. ArenaNet actually started selling them about two years ago, but I had completely forgotten about them because I can’t really think of a compelling reason to buy them. The playerbase was super grumpy when it happened too.
If you don’t play Guild Wars 2, just know that hero points are basically something you collect as you play through many (though not all) of the game’s maps, most notably accruing them to build out your class and then your elite spec. The wiki says there are 1514 total possible points in the game, but you need only around a fifth of those to fully finish your class and max out one elite spec. If you use an ubiquitous level 80 booster, you kinda just need to run around some of the easier maps or hop on a hero point train for a few hours to get a spec locked in. It’s trivial and fun.
Niche cases… maybe if you don’t own all the expansions and you just can’t get anyone to help you with some of the harder ones, it’d be worth it to buy one unlock to knock it out? But if you don’t own all the expansions, you can’t get to all the elite specs anyway. It just seems silly to me. But I guess people must buy them in a rush to get to their class fantasy?
Let’s Overthink it. Are there things in your MMORPG’s cash shop you would never, ever buy? What are they, and why are they are hard pass for you?
Ben Griggs (@braxwolf): I’ve never purchased stat tomes in LOTRO, nor do I plan to. I’m fact, there are a lot of “convenience items” I’ve actively avoided in the LOTRO store on principle, so as to not encourage them to purposefully inject inconvenience into the game and then sell us a solution for it. Things like slayer deed accelerators and crafting boosts also fall into this category.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna.bsky.social, blog): I’ve got Guild Wars 2 on the brain today, so I may as well keep at it. Most of the cash shop is pure junk, and that’s always seemed so weird to me. Really ugly costumes and weapons and individual armor pieces that are just way too expensive for what they are, ugly mount skins for mounts nobody uses, 10-year-old finishers, stuff I wouldn’t use if it were free. I don’t understand those items. There are pretty things sometimes, but they are never on rotation when I’m standing there with my wallet wanting to pay cash money for them, so they may as well not exist. Big shrug.
I don’t buy lockbox keys and never have. In fact there’s a specific bundle in the cash shop that has some bags and unlocks for a good deal, but since it also has keys, I haven’t picked it up because I enjoy the clean conscience I have from not buying keys or lockboxes in anything, ever. I am firm on this. I’ll quit games first.
I’ve not averse to buying level skips or boosters or advanced characters or whatever we wanna call them; this just doesn’t bother me because of the way many (most?) MMORPGs are structured so heavily around tedious grinding to endgame. But like, if an MMORPG’s leveling or progression process is fun and the point of the game – LOTRO is coming to mind – I don’t really want to pay my way out of a fun time, so that’s an easy pass. But if it’s paying for a token in UO to spare myself three years of grinding animal taming or something pointlessly stupid? Lesgo.
Carlo Lacsina (@UltraMudkipEX, YouTube, Twitch): Easy answer: ugly outfits! Shoulder pauldrons too big? NOPE. Flat shoes on female outfits? Begone. Hides the sillhouette of my character? Away with you. Outfit not skimpy enough? YOU SHALL NOT PASS!
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes.bsky.social, blog): Man, do I have enough space here? Well, perhaps it’s best that I go through this in a bullet list format for the sake of brevity:
Stat-boosting potions. Yes, even temporary ones.
Fast-forwarding of item refinement/crafting/etc. Nah, I’ll wait, I’m good. Eat me, cash shop.
Inventory expansions. Either give me bag space or get into the bin.
Lockbox anything. I don’t care if you hand me crates; I am not buying keys.
All gacha. Free rolls or bust, you greedy bastards.
Racial unlocks. Real shame I can’t be a kittyman, but oh well, moving on.
Colin Henry (@ChaosConstant.bsky.social): Man, I had totally forgotten about the buyable hero points too. I’ve never seen them on sale either, so I don’t imagine they’re a big seller.
As someone who rotates between a lot of different characters in most MMOs, I hate buying anything that I can only use on one character. For instance, in GW2, I have never bought any of the unbreakable gathering tools (aside from the ones that came with deluxe expansions). They’re a nice convenience if you only have one character, but for me, they are on the wrong character more often than not. If they were account-wide, or even if the cosmetic were account wide, I would probably buy them, but they just aren’t worth it to me as they are. It’s just so easy to jump into the PvP lobby and restock when I run out.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): One of the biggest no-nos is “anything you can find, earn, or buy in-game.” That studios put these sometimes easily attainable items in the cash shop to sucker ignorant players is kind of despicable. Other than that, I won’t buy consumables or buffs — or level skips.
Sam Kash (@samkash@mastodon.social): That’s certainly one I’d never buy. But I don’t really buy much in cash shops at all. I’m broke and stingy with what I’ve got. When I do have a few spare bits to rub together, though, I almost exclusively buy cosmetics or quality-of-life improvements. I’m thinking of big bags or faster harvesting.
I can’t tell imagine ever buying anything that could be earned through normal gameplay like the hero points.
Tyler Edwards (blog): This may surprise people, but I don’t think I’ve ever paid for additional inventory or bank space. I’ve just never felt it necessary. Even in ESO, where people seem to feel the crafting bag from the sub is an absolute must-have, I got by just fine with what I got for free, and I did a lot of crafting.
Also don’t generally bother with lootboxes or anything else randomized. Just never enjoyed gambling.
Beyond that, I generally don’t spend on cosmetics that aren’t the “big ones,” like outfits, mounts, or furniture. You know, sprays, weapon charms, name cards, guild sigils, name plates, UI skins, that sort of thing. I may occasionally buy an emote if it’s cheap and I have leftover cash shop currency.
I wish New World had priced its camp skins cheaper because a lot of them are incredibly cool, but I can’t justify like $20+ for something I see for three seconds before running off to continue questing.
Every week, join the Massively OP staff for Massively Overthinking column, a multi-writer roundtable in which we discuss the MMO industry topics du jour – and then invite you to join the fray in the comments. Overthinking it is literally the whole point. Your turn!