Preface: this has nothing to do with DR
I feel like Karma in its current state has turned into a niche currency for a niche set of products; not useful for everyone, and definitely not the ‘reward for heroic deeds’ it was set out to be. Here are my opinions why. I also encourage others to dispute my points if need be.
- Not everyone is a chef
- Not everyone wants a legendary weapon, or armor of the six gods.
- Once you hit level 80, lower level karma equipment will have close to no use.
I think the services of master craftsmen should be split across the world to various Karma merchants. What happens is that you create a dichotomy where coin and karma can allow a player to obtain the same goods, but in varying levels of convenience.
Cost vs Convenience.
Coin allows players to purchase all their crafting needs conveniently next to their craft stations.
Karma should allow the same items to be purchased, however, these goods are split up across Tyria. e.g. A renown heart quest involving miners should allow players to obtain lumps of coal for karma from the NPC. This works very well in conjunction with the waypoint travel system. It will benefit players that are in the area, and players that constantly use the waypoints won’t save much money.
This system can be further enhanced by perhaps adding a limit for each player on the amount of items they can purchase at a karma merchant. e.g. 2 master salvage kits every 24 hrs. Karma merchants dwelling closer to major cities can sell the same item for higher karma to balance out the waypoint costs.
I think Arenanet has this in effect to some extent, with the gathering tools being spread out amongst different karma merchants, but I feel as though it doesn’t benefit a great deal of players.
