ArenaNet announced yesterday that select retail stores will now be selling Gem Cards for Guild Wars 2. Players can purchase Gem Cards and use them in-game to receive Gems without having to utilize a credit card. Here’s the official announcement:

“You can purchase gems in-game from the Black Lion Trading Company, but starting this week you can also purchase Guild Wars 2 gems in real life at select retailers. These cards, which make a great gift, contain a serial code that can be redeemed in Guild Wars 2 for gems.

If gem cards aren’t in stock at your favorite retailer yet, be sure to ask if and when they’ll be arriving.

For redemption instructions and additional information about gems, visit the Guild Wars 2 Support page.”

Update 10/17: ArenaNet has released a list of retailers where Gem Cards can be purchased.

As we round the final bend toward Guild Wars 2′s launch, it’s impossible to not notice the rising storm of excitement, anticipation, and– well, there’s no sense in beating around the bush– hype. There, I said it. GW2 is carrying a lot of hype right now. MMO players are eager for something new, something shiny, and most importantly– something different. As most modern MMO fans know, hype can be a risky business, but GW2 has a lot of things going right for it so far. The combination of the game’s dynamic event system, dynamic leveling adjustment system, WvWvW feature, cooperative world system, and non-trinity combat system is a fairly innovative step in the industry, and a large reason for the hype.

Another innovative step is the move away from the classic subscription model. Most MMORPGs these days launch with a subscription model that may or may not prove the test of time, and if the game ends up slipping into a free-to-play model, many players feel frustrated with the model slip no matter their stance. Why? Because the developers will often veil the changes in flowery, positive PR lingo, change the way content patches are added to the game, and in general– change the game dramatically. Gamers prefer their games and development teams at face value– and that’s where Guild Wars 2 comes in.

ArenaNet has taken the time to design a microtransaction shop that will hopefully be fair to players, great for the game’s economy, and profiting to the company. The Black Lion Trading Company, Guild Wars 2′s in-game cash shop (also known as the gem store), wasn’t hastily thrown in to make up for eight straight months of losses. It’s been a stable, well-known feature of the game, and during the months of beta we have been able to provide our feedback on the items available and the current state of the feature. ArenaNet plans on this system being stable for years to come. Because of this fact, we are hopefully less likely to see sudden changes such as items added that border on pay-to-win. For MMO veterans, that’s peace of mind.

Players are well aware of the fact that they may have to purchase items like additional bank slots from the gem store, but since they’re able to use in-game gold to purchase gems, they may not mind doing so. They may also not mind doing so because they know what to expect of ArenaNet’s business model. They know they won’t have to pay a subscription fee for half a year then turn around and weigh pros and cons. They won’t have to pay a monthly subscription fee at all. And that, frankly, is reason enough to celebrate, especially for those of us who enjoy multiple games.

Without the need to pay for a monthly subscription, there’s also the fact that many players will be willing to put out a little cash toward items and features that truly interest them. Again, the feature’s shown at face value. What you see is what you get, and that’s pretty reassuring these days. I know that personally, if I enjoy a game and don’t have to jump through hoops to enjoy myself, I’m more than willing to show my support of the game and grab some goodies along the way.

In fact, I’ve been asking myself what I would consider purchasing first in GW2′s Black Lion Trading Company once the game launches. Let’s say for instance, I wanted to take what I’d normally spend on a one-month subscription to an MMORPG (usually around $15), and put that money to good use in the gem shop. What would I buy first? We don’t know the exact cost of gems, of course, since the market will fluctuate, but I can come up with a priority list of sorts.

Oh, and in case you’d like to take a look at the gem store items and prices available so far (current from the last BWE), please see our list from BWE2 and the changes to BWE3. Items may, of course, change previous to launch still.

Priority 1: Character slots – Yeah, I like alts. This will probably be my first purchase. I like to get all the names, races, and crafting disciplines for my alts set up before I get too far with one character in a new game, generally. I imagine I’ll have 6 characters total, although some may just be crafters.

Priority 2: Bag slots – I hate running out of bag space, so I see this as a “relatively soon” purchase for me, too. Bank tabs might also be useful at some point, yet I probably won’t need them until later in my alt career.

Pirority 3: Pirate Captain’s Outfit (shown in title image on a female sylvari) – Yarr. I can’t help myself. The inner RP’er in me who doesn’t RP often enough loves how it looks on a female charr.

Priority 4: Mystic Keys – I enjoy lockboxes of random goodies, and during the BWEs, I was able to grab some keys while leveling normally, but it’d be nice to have a stack on hand.

After that, I’d probably start looking at collectible minis and possibly some dyes, Mystic Forge items, or Transmutation Stones. And yes, I know I don’t list any of the interesting Boosts GW2 has, but I enjoy taking my time leveling, so I don’t foresee experience or even karma being an issue for me.

How about you? What’s your priority list look like? Feel free to chime in below in the comments section.

Guild Wars 2 has eight crafting disciplines to choose between, and players can have two. They can also have all three of the gathering disciplines, which thankfully aren’t tied to any of the crafting trades. Players can choose to become a jeweler as one of their crafting disciplines, which allows the player to craft jewelry– amulets, rings, and earrings, as well as upgraded gemstones to use in equipment. Both will be undoubtedly useful in GW2, and hey– every profession benefits from shiny things, right?

Mining and logging are the two gathering trades essential to the jeweler discipline. Logging may not seem useful on the surface, but one of the gems needed– amber– is found while chopping down logs. Gemstones are randomly found while mining and logging all types of gathering nodes, and the chances of finding them can be raised by using special gathering tools. The appropriate gathering tool must be equipped while gathering (luckily all three– mining pick, logging axe, and harvesting sickle– can be equipped at once), but they do run out as you use them. For long gathering sessions, keep a few stacks handy.

One very awesome feature about gathering in GW2 is the fact that nodes appear uniquely for every player. This means that two players can both run up to an ore node, and both walk away with ore. This approach is similar to the entire game’s cooperative approach to combat and loot, and will make all our crafting lives easier. The other nice thing about gathering is that while mining or logging, players will get multiple whacks at each node, which equal multiple chances of receiving gems. Rich nodes also increase the chances of obtaining gems by increasing the number of whacks before the node is depleted.

As a general rule of thumb when considering which gems to prioritize, here are the stats acquainted with each type (in the same order as pictured above): Garnet – Power, Turquoise – Vitality, Amber – Condition Damage, Tiger’s Eye – Precision, Malachite – Toughness, and Pearl (not pictured) – Healing. Later on, when gems can be transmogrified, or combined into new types, these stats also combine as such.

Once gathered, gems can be used to place into gear, or used for crafting jeweler recipes. All jeweler recipes require the use of ore as well, which is obtained while mining and from metal scraps, which drop off mobs, can be found in bags, and can be sometimes found in interesting places around Tyria (ruined metal hunks in the environment, for example). Ore must be forged into bars at a rate of 2 ore per bar then crafted into jeweler ingredients like hooks and bands, which can all be done at the nearest jeweler station.

When just getting started with the jeweler profession, I first recommend running out and mining a fair chunk of copper nodes, which appear in areas for levels 1-15. Collect those gems, and try and have as much of a variety as possible. As a jeweler in GW2, you’ll be spending quite a bit of time discovering new recipes. In fact, once you learn the recipes for metal bars and ingredients, the rest of the jeweler recipes (at least in the early stages) come from discovering. Not that this is a bad thing. It’s quite fun, but it takes a bit of getting used to.

So what does discovering mean? Instead of automatically being given a list of recipes to flounder through or purchase, you’ll have to discover recipes yourself, using your own ingredients. The good news? Most of the discoveries follow a pretty basic pattern for jewelers– slap a gem with some metal ingredients, and there you go. As you work your way up, upgraded gem types and new gem types altogether will become available.

The discovery interface is easy to figure out. Tab over to it, plop your ingredients in, and see if something comes up. If so, craft it. You’ll learn the recipe and also craft the item. Discovering boosts crafting experience as well as crafting items that are orange, yellow, and green. Oh, did I mention that crafting experience not only boosts your crafting level, but your real level, too? That’s a pretty nice perk for players who enjoy crafting.

Here is a list of the basic copper-level discoveries. These recipes should get you to jeweler level 50 or so:

Rings:

Amber Solitaire of Festering [0 difficulty]
1 Copper Band, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Amber Pebble

Turquoise Solitaire of Vitality [0 difficulty]
1 Copper Band, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Turquoise Pebble

Garnet Solitaire of Might [0 difficulty]
1 Copper Band, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Garnet Pebble

Tiger’s Eye Solitaire of Precision [25 difficulty]
1 Copper Band, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Tiger’s Eye Pebble

Malachite Solitaire of Resilience [25 difficulty]
1 Copper Band, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Malachite Pebble

Earrings:

Amber Stud of Festering [0 difficulty]
1 Copper Hook, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Amber Pebble

Garnet Stud of Might [0 difficulty]
1 Copper Hook, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Garnet Pebble

Turquoise Stud of Vitality [0 difficulty]
1 Copper Hook, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Turquoise Pebble

Malachite Stud of Resilience [25 difficulty]
1 Copper Hook, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Malachite Pebble

Tiger’s Eye Stud of Precision [25 difficulty]
1 Copper Hook, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Tiger’s Eye Pebble

Amulets:

Malachite Amulet of Resilience [50 difficulty]
1 Copper Chain, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Malachite Pebble

Amber Amulet of Festering [50 difficulty]
1 Copper Chain, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Amber Pebble

Turquoise Amulet of Vitality [50 difficulty]
1 Copper Chain, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Turquoise Pebble

Garnet Amulet of Might [50 difficulty]
1 Copper Chain, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Garnet Pebble

Tiger’s Eye Amulet of Precision [50 difficulty]
1 Copper Chain, 1 Copper Setting, 1 Tiger’s Eye Pebble

In addition to these recipes, adorned gems can be made, which are upgraded gems discovered by combining a gem with a filigree. The adorned gems can then be combined with the same copper pieces as listed above to create upgraded jewelry. These recipes using the upgraded gems are known as masterwork recipes. After that point, at jeweler level 75, the recipes begin to repeat themselves utilizing the new gems and metal ore found in silver nodes.

At jeweler level 50, it’s also possible to begin creating new gem types, known as transmogrified gems, using two different types of gems and a pile of glittering dust. These feature the combined stats of the base gems. Some of the transmogrified gems can also be found in silver ore nodes.

While leveling my jeweler on the last BWE, I found the experience to be quite enjoyable. I love the idea of discovery in crafting, and I’m quite pleased with the gemstone system in GW2. Gemstones are used both for jewelry and inserting into equipment, which makes the trade quite useful. A good stock of gems is definitely needed for leveling, however, so for any aspiring jewelers out there– make sure and grab some mining picks and logging axes as soon as possible, and gather, gather, gather!

Stay tuned to Guild Wars 2 Junkies in the months to come, as I’ll be sure to update this guide with higher-level information in the future.

The Trading Post system in Guild Wars 2 is one of my favorite features within the game and is truly next generation in its implementation and ease of use.  A great auction system encourages player interaction and provides players with another avenue of playing.  We all know the people who see generating wealth through trading as a game within a game, and we all know people who just never seem to care about buying or selling anything they get.  Arenanet has built their Trading Post system to be extremely powerful for advanced users, but extremely simple for those users who don’t really want to bother with the system.

Here are 5 reasons Why I love the Guild Wars 2 Trading Post. Keep reading to find out what they are!

1.  Access the market from anywhere you are.  Yes, that’s right, the Commerce window can be brought up from anywhere in the game world.  What does this mean for you?  Items can be bought or sold without having to hit a town.  Do keep in mind that while you can buy and sell items out in the field, you will have to go to the Trading Post NPC to pick up your items or gold.  This may not mean much for the person who enjoys the idea of mailing items to an auction house mule, but for those players who don’t really get into the world of commerce within MMO’s, it really creates an opportunity to sell those tradeskill materials, as opposed to just vendoring them.  To further simplify things, you can simply right click any item in your inventory and you have options to Sell at Trading Post or Buy More at Trading Post. 

2.  Browsing items for purchase has never been easier.  When pulling up the window to purchase items within the trading post, you can instantly see the Top Valued, Supplied, Demanded, and Traded Items.  I’m sure that the hardcore mercantile players will be most interested in identifying these trends in an effort to fulfill market niches.  If you’re looking for something that isn’t amongst the top items, all you have to do is a simple Item Name search.  Unlike some other recent MMO’s, there are no silly filter requirements to prevent you from searching.  However, if you’re not sure of the item name, there are filters to help you find the item that is right for you. 
 
 
3.  The Currency Exchange window makes it so smart traders can harness market power to work for them.  Here’s what I mean by this.  Using the Currency Exchange window you can either trade gold for gems or trade your gems for gold.  The window tells you the price of recent gem sales, shows you a price graph over the last few hours of trading, and also shows you various pieces of market data including Average Price and the Highest and Lowest prices over the last 5 days.  This information can help those of us with market savvy acquire extreme in-game wealth of not only gold, but gems as well. 

4.  Unlike most other in-MMO trading systems, the Trading Post within Guild Wars 2 allows buyers to put up listings as well.  These custom offers can appeal to sellers who don’t want to hassle with market competition, or for any one looking to make fast money.  This also appeals to buyers who are looking to get a bargain, but aren’t in a rush to acquire their items.  Because of this system, there’s always a chance that you will find that rare item that you want, even if it’s not necessarily listed at the time that you’re browsing the trading post.

 
5.  Selling your loot has never been more straight forward.  When pulling up the selling tab in the Commerce window, your inventory comes up pre-sorted by name.  You can see all buyer offers for items that are in your inventory, assuming you’re willing to wait for your money, but are looking to get more for your hard earned loot, you have the option to list your item on the trading post, rather than taking the offers.  Once you select your item to sell, you can with a single click match your item to the current lowest price on the Trading Post, or choose to set your own price.  Nothing’s more irritating than being undercut by a single copper piece on an auction, and this system encourages sellers to match their items at the lowest price by providing that as a single click option for listings.

Although it’s seemingly a contradiction, the Trading Post system has managed to take all of the things that I loved from previous trade systems within MMO’s, expanded upon those ideas and tossed some useful tools out there for us trade junkies, all while keeping the system easy to use for beginning players.  No easy feat for Arenanet I’m sure, but one that I’ll be thanking them for when I’m dominating my server’s Trading Post.