When getting into GW2, there’s something a lot of new players get spooked by. The in-game cash shop. ArenaNet has actually done a very good job of moderating their greed when it comes to the Guild Wars 2 Gemstore. Don’t be fooled, it’s actually pretty fair and not very pay-to-win. There are even some things that many players strongly recommend spending money on as a newer player.
Now don’t get confused, this doesn’t mean you need to drop cash on the game on day one. You can play the game for free until you hit expansion content, so do that. These upgrades listed in this guide are for when you decide that this is the MMO for you and you want some quality of life improvements. So with that in mind, here are some of the best options on the Guild Wars 2 Gemstore for quality of life improvement.
Must-Have Things
Copper-fed Salvage-o-Matic
By spending a few Copper per harvest run, you can plop this item down and claim salvage from every item in your bags in a few clicks. Definitely a huge timesaver. The loss in currency is offset by the fact that you have a 20% chance to gain upgraded materials from each salvage iteration. You could get a higher tier of materials, basically for free. There’s also the obvious convenience factor as well.
Storage Expander
These bag addons will massively improve the number of materials you can hold in your in-game bank. As you get deeper into the game and need more crafting mats, this is a godsend. It increases stack sizes for every material by 250. Yes, you read that right, that’s a huge amount of materials. So if you like gathering stuff and turning into an MMO hoarder, this is for you. You may purchase up to 2,000 total, or 7 of these upgrades. Most players get by just fine with one or two.
Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey
A periodic item in the Gemstore that is basically a portal key to the best town in the game. Mistlock zones have waypoints to all the other towns in the game. The zone also has all the crafting stations and relevant content you could need for it. You can even port to this special town, and then back to where you were, just by using this special scroll.
Nice, but not Necessary, Things
The items listed below are much more niche choices to make when it comes to how you spend money on the Guild Wars 2 Gemstore.
Gathering Tools Galore
These have many different names, and will not always be available. The Volatile Magic Gathering Tools are the ones that many veterans point to as the best. this pack is much more pricey, but has three unbreakable tools in it for three of the profession skills for gathering. The basic Unbreakable Tools are a bit cheaper, but you don’t get the fancy effect. Also, there’s the min-maxing potential for these tools. This is because Volatile Magic tools harvest Volatile Magic as a bonus drop, and that’s a great source of Gold to various players. But there’s more, check out our guide on Gathering tools in GW2 for more details.
This is a much more niche purchase compared to the Copper-fed Salvage-o-Matic. There are so many different harvesting tools that it kind of comes down to a personal choice of which ones you want. Since ArenaNet charges a fairly high price of 1,000 Gems per tool, there’s a lot to spend. The thing is, you’re not paying to make more in-game Gold per hour. You’re paying for the convenience of having the same tool forever.
Maybe you’re just getting into crafting and gathering in GW2 and really hate having to buy more tools from other players. It’s a minor annoyance at best, but some players will choose to avoid that headache.
Black Lion Salvage Kit
The Black Lion Salvage Kit is basically the rare-focused version of the Salvage-o-Matic. This item has a 100% chance of recovering upgrades (excluding infusions). 50% chance to get rarer materials. it has 25 uses by default, so it’s nowhere near as good for general use. In fact, it would be a terrible idea to use it for a replacement of the aforementioned copper-powered tool. This is much better suited to the returning of Exotic upgrades and materials to your inventory. If you have that rare item you can’t sell and want to put its contents to better use, this is what you use.
Living World Seasons
These addon packs for the main game are a huge boost to the content in the MMO. These are essentially DLC packs that contain unique missions and story content released on a seasonal schedule. Every so often, ArenaNet will retire an older one and replace it. New players coming to the game can get into the older season by buying the packs from the Guild Wars 2 Gemstore. They’re normally free during their active period, so get them while they are up to avoid having to pay for them.
The best reason to get these is that you can get some power Ascended and utility items in each season. It’s up to you though, as these items are not vital to playing the game to its full potential. Players who love to make Gold will want to grab season 4, as it has one of the best Gold farming zones in the game right now.
