Yes, as Guild Wars gamers from all over the globe know, Nicholas the Traveller is again after our time/money to get him some snippet of the loot in game. As with every week, he has selected his location, this week it's Holdings of Chokhin, and expects us all to get him whatever he wants.
This knowledge may be well known, but in this post I want to address two vital questions: 1) Is Nick getting greedy? And 2) What does he use those items for?
Let's start with the first one.
Last week Nick asked all us lovely people for Amber Chunks. As I'm sure all of you who took part in this know, it was hardly worth it. The price of Amber (which was already in the range of 600 gold a piece) rocketed to around 1.1k, and those of us who already had amber stored debated whether to make money and sell or to get the gifts.
Not only did Nick want Amber he wanted 3 per gift!!! Yes, 3. What is that if it's not greed? Thanks Nick but I think I'll wait until you have something easier on my time and Xunlai balance.
I have to wonder, did he want Kurzick armour? If so, why wasn't he showing it off this week? Surely there were enough people crazy enough to trade their hard-earned amber for his gifts. He could likely have bought 4 or 5 sets. But this week he turns up in his drab rags with his ever-faithful Yakkington. But if he doesn't want the amber for armour what does he want it for? I sure as hell don't know, but I dread to think what he needs all these random materials for, perhaps he wants to wage war on the charr for destroying his beloved Ascalon, maybe he's out to get us all!
And the if you watch his progress with crafting materials he seems to be escalating. So far he's been through silk, glass vials and amber, but how long do we have before he asks for diamonds, deldrimor steel, rubies or (god forbid) ectoplasm? 3 ectos Nick? You must be crazy!
This week is perhaps even worse than amber, Pilaged Goods. Now sure, this week he only wants one. But at least last week we could do a bit of Urgoz and earn the amber, or (for those of us rich enough) buy it. I have seen people saying they've done countless runs and not got any, some saying it's a scam. They want their gifts, oh yes, but they'll probably still get crap.
And this brings me onto my final point; what do we expect when we do this, people sell traveller gifts for 4k each, and most of the time what's in them doesn't even make up that much. Sure, we'll get a keg once in a while, and red rock candies sometimes, but the idea of Icy Dragon Swords is a dream that may never be fulfilled, you're better off farming for that one. I got a spider egg once, but I'd give the second away if I got one. And if you're going for the party/booze/sweet title you're better off talking to pre-nick, he changes everyday after all.
But regardless of everything I've said, Nick does make the game more interesting. And I will continue to help him get his items, even if his eventual plan is to kill us all with some marvelous and strange contraption.
