If you were to look at the Black Lion Gem Store, you can see that it provides players with tons of fun gadgets and upgrades they can use to improve their accounts via quality-of-life enhancements. While all of them have their own uses that benefit the players, some are way more prioritized by the majority for a multitude of reasons, either because it is simply one of the must-have items that players should immediately go after, or they simply raise the quality-of-life. Which Gem Store item do you think sits at the top, dear reader, is it something you may already own?
15. Gathering Nodes (various cost)
Whenever you go into Lions Arch or your player character’s home city, do you often check your map chat and notice people asking if they can enter anyone’s home instances? What these individuals are trying to do is gather specific materials that people may have if they purchased special Gathering Nodes from the Gem Store. These special items activate nodes in your home instance that you and anyone can use to gather items once per day.
Tips:
There are multiple Gem Store items you can purchase that will give you items namely:
- Basic Cloth Rack (800 Gems) - Activates a cloth rack you can gather cloth from.
- Basic Harvesting Node Pack (800 Gems) - Activates three (3) plant nodes within your home instance fir daily harvesting.
- Basic Leather Rack (800 Gems) - Activates a leather rack in your home instance you can gather leather from.
- Basic Lumber Node Pack (800 Gems) - Activates three (3) lumber nodes in your home for daily logging.
- Basic Ore Node Pack (800 Gems) - Creates copper, silver, and gold mining nodes for your home instance.
- Black Lion Garden Plot Deed (1000 Gems) - Activates four (4) plant nodes for your daily harvesting. Nodes in your garden can grow plants that you can select from available options.
- Black Lion Hunters Contract (1200 Gems) - Adds a Black Lion Hunters Board used to collect monster crafting material drops.
- Black Lion Industry Contract (1000 Gems) - Similar to the Hunters Contract, but for cloth, leather, ore, wood, and jewels.
- End of Dragons Expedition Contract (1000 Gems) - Similar to the previous contracts, but for resources from Seitung Province, The Echovald Wilds, New Kaineng City, Dragon’s End, and Fishing.
- Season 3 Expedition Contract (1000 Gems) - Similar to the previous contracts, but for resources from Dry Top, Silverwastes, Ember Bay, Bitterfrost Frontier, Lake Doric, Draconis Mons, and Siren’s Landing.
- Season 4 Expedition Contract (1000 Gems) - Similar to the previous contracts but for resources from Domain of Istan, Sandswept Isles, Domain of Kourna, Jahai Bluffs, Thunderhead Peaks, and Dragonfall.
14. Account Jump Start (2000 Gems)
If you are starting out and want to purchase something from the Gem Store that can give you a bit of an early lead with your adventuring, the Account Jump Star can potentially be one of your first purchases. It is priced at 2000 which seems a bit much, but when looking at the items, it becomes a steal since it would be priced at 4000.
Tips:
- If you are a veteran player, this item may nod be for you as you may already have the items in question from your years of playing. If you don’t, however, it is never too late.
- For newbies, the Account Jump Start gives you the always popular Bank Tab and Bank Slot expansions, two absolutely important improvements to your character and account as you will soon see in the list.
- The transmutation charges MUST BE USED AT LEVEL 80 for good reason. Wait until then when you are fully leveled and geared before committing to specific looks.
13. Mount Adoption License (various cost)
Have you already purchased Path of Fire and already want a new skin for your Raptor, Skimmer, Springer, Jackal, Rollerbeetle, Warclaw, Griffon, and Skyscale but would rather let random chance help you out? You must be really lucky if you have a target in mind and get it in your first try, but the various Mount Adoption Licenses can help you gain a random type of skins from a set collection.
Tips:
- If you would rather let random chance give you a skin, use the ordinary Mount Adoption Licenses that cost 400 gems for 1, 1,800 for 5, and 5,100 for 15.
- If you have a particular unique skin that you want and would rather get it immediately, go for the 1,200 gem variant and select the unique skin from there.
12. Mount, Outfits, And Other Weapon And Armor Skin Sets (various cost)
The second endgame of Guild Wars 2 wouldn't be called Fashion Wars if players didn't get the opportunity to rock fun and unique skins their characters can use for their armors, weapons, and mounts. The good thing is, there is no skin that gives players an advantage in terms of increasing attributes and is only aesthetic.
Tips:
- If you want to make sure you have gems leftover for a future purchase, always make sure that the skins you choose are on sale so you don't have to spend a lot of gems.
- Some of the best skins come in a set and features both armor and weapons.
- If you are going to be picking skins, commit to looks you don't mind rocking for a long time.
11. Equipment Template Expansion (500 gems)
The Equipment Template Expansion provides players with a new equipment template slot within their Equipment Tab inside their Hero Panel. Normally there would only be 2 equipment slots per character, but if you have tons of builds and look for that character, you can open up to 8 slots. Make sure that this character is your main so you can show off all of your various looks without the tiring process of manually equipping and unequipping various items.
Tips:
- As mentioned above, it is preferred that the character you are spending the item on is your main IF you have tons of looks planned for the character and love mixing and matching armor sets.
- If your character is one of your most used alts and does a fair amount of PvE, PvP, and WvW, 3-5 slots could be enough for them if you are simply looking to change your builds. Tie this with purchasing the next item…
10. Build Template Expansion
The Build Template Expansion is often paired with the Equipment Template Expansion if their character is used a lot and they are keen on doing tons of PvE, PvP and WvW. This becomes highly useful as well in Raids, Strike Missions, and other forms of instanced content with your character switching between roles while out of combat. Using said skills, however, is completely up to the player and you can’t spend money to becoming better at the game.
Tips:
- Pair the Build Template Expansion with the Equipment Template Expansion to have more flexibility with your build crafting.
- The Build Template, in general, allows players to save their existing builds so that they can freely switch it up while out of combat to prepare for any encounters ahead. This becomes crucial for players looking to do instanced content or WvW.
- Having multiple build templates also allows you to experiment even more while your main build is saved on your first slot.
9. Storage Expander (800 gems)
Let’s face it, guys: Whenever you want to farm or save up for that sweet Legendary, you often run out of space in your crafted item material slots. Currently, without any upgrades, you can only hold up to 250 items per material, and sometimes you just need a bit more than that. With the Storage Expander, it gives you more space for all of your crafting materials, allowing you more freedom to collect as many materials as you want before crafting or selling.
Tips:
- The Storage Expander can be extremely useful for players who love to farm and find it necessary to have tons of space within their storage for all of their valuables.
- You can purchase the Storage Expander up to nine (9) times, giving you a whopping 2,500 total storage, including your existing 250.
- In case you wind up purchasing that many Storage Expanders despite it possibly being overkill, try purchasing them one at a time instead of in one go.
- Purchasing Storage Expanders frees up your alt characters, allowing you to use them instead of being forever the extension of your bank or even your personal guild bank. Players can create their own guilds and often use the guild bank to house additional crafting materials.
8. Bank Tab Expansion (600 gems)
Are you noticing the general theme here, dear reader? The more space you have in your bank storage, the more you can dump your tools and gadgets without cluttering your character's inventory screens. All your characters have to do now is just go to your bank and get any gadget they need for the day and put it back instead of cluttering their inventory.
Tips:
- The Bank Tab Expansion may become your best friend when trying to find a place to put all those tomes, books, gadgets, boosters, etc., without relying on a pack mule alt.
- The Bank Tab consists of 70 slots. Each expansion gives another 70. If you really want to go ham and purchase up to the maximum, you can only purchase up to 17 additional slots, or a whopping 10,700 gems. By that point, why do you have so much junk?!
- Purchasing Bank Tab Expansions frees up your alt characters, allowing you to use them instead of being forever the extension of your bank or even your personal guild bank. Players can create their own guilds and often use the guild bank to house additional crafting materials.
7. Bag Slot Expansion
As previously mentioned, if you can hold more materials on you while farming, the more you get to do so. Of course, having an additional inventory space means nothing without a bag to hold items in, so click here for more information. The Bag Slot Expansion is a farmer’s best friend and makes or breaks their ability to farm as much as possible.
Tips:
- The Bag Slot Expansion is best used on either your main that you use a lot in a daily basis, or for your farming character.
- Always practice inventory management and declutter prior to farming.
- Use various bags to separate types of items in your inventory and put important items in “Invisibles” so they don’t get sold or salvaged.
6. Character Expansion (800 gems)
Guild Wars 2 allows players to start with either 2 character slots or 5 depending on what account they had while starting (two (2) character slots for your account, and five (5) for paid accounts). If you wish to experience the entire game as every possible profession, you would need at least nine (9) total character slots with maybe 1-2 additional alts for various reasons. This is where the Character Slot Expansion comes to your rescue and gives you an entirely new slot to add another character for your account.
Tips:
If you just want to play as every profession, get up to nine (9) character slots and nothing more.
If you want to do the above but have an alt that is within levels 22-34, and 49-55, add two more, making it 11. The levels are said to ensure that the loot contained in certain bags are within the character’s levels.
If you must know, the maximum number of character slots available per account is 69. If you are free-to-play, that means you have 71, and for paid, you have 74.
5. Lobby Passes (150 gems 2 weeks, 1000 gems permanent)
Guild Wars 2 players love nothing more than to log-in, do their dailies, talk with their friends do various activities, and hang out. When they are done from their activities and want to use the bank storage, sell off items, or use the Mystic Forge, they would often go to Lions Arch to take care of those things, but some NPCs are far apart. This is where special lobbies come into play, and the various lobby passes the game presents players. Are they completely necessary? It is subjective, but there is no denying the sights you get to see while you are there.
Tips:
- If you are looking for convenience and hate going for long-distance walks even with your mount, just to sell items, get your gold from the Trading Post, ir use the Mystic Forge, you may opt to purchase one of the permanent lobby passes, although it is advised to do so while they are discounted.
- If you are undecided whether you want to purchase a permanent one, you can always get the 2-week pass for 150 gems and try out the various lobbies.
- There are several lobbies to choose from, namely: Captain’s Airship Pass (Gendarran Fields), Mistlock Sanctuary (a favorite among the community), Noble’s Folly (Verdant Brink), Royal Pass (Divinity’s Reach), Armistice Bastion (Neutral Ground in World versus World), Lava Lounge (Ember Bay), and the Thousand Seas Pavillion (The Mists).
4. Living World Seasons (2, 3, 4, Ice Brood Saga)
Guild Wars 2 players that have played since the start of the game up to now have been able to follow along with the story from the hero's first steps in core Tyria, all the way to the end of the Dragon Cycle in End of Dragons. For those players who took breaks or are relatively new to the game in 2023, however, they will not have access to various story missions that many were able to enjoy. Good news, though: Players can purchase the Living World Seasons 2-4 chapters and the entirety of the Icebrood Saga and catch up with the story.
Tips:
- Living World Season 2 Complete Pack (1,280 gems) - contains the chapters: Gates of Maguuma, Entanglement, The Dragon’s Reach: Parts 1 and 2, Echoes of the Past, Tangled Paths, Seeds of Truth, and Point of No Return.
- Living World Season 3 Complete Pack (960 gems) - contains the chapters: Out of the Shadows, Rising Flames, A Crack in the Ice, The Head of the Snake, Flashpoint, and One Path Ends.
- Living World Season 4 Complete Pack (960 gems) - contains the chapters: Daybreak, A Bug in the System, Long Live the Lich, A Star to Guide Us, All if Nothing, and War Eternal.
- The Icebrood Saga Complete Pack (960 gems) - contains the chapters: Prologue: Bound by Blood, Whisper in the Dark, Shadow in the Ice, No Quarter, Jormag Rising, and Champions.
3. Shared Inventory Slot
Above all of the other item slot expansions in the game, the Shared Inventory Slot is perhaps the most important. The Shared Inventory Slots can be used to place various kits and gadgets that can be accessed by your characters without having to open their bank storages.
Tips:
- Soulbound items cannot be placed within them as they are bound to specific characters.
- The Shared Inventory Slots can become the permanent home for all of the items that allows you to teleport to specific living world locations you may not have accessed yet with your alts or don’t want to open the map to get to the current festival location.
- The slots are also useful for all the cool gadgets you own like the Prototype Position Rewinder and the White Mantle Portal Device.
2. Unlimited Gathering Tools (With effects preferred)
If you, like me, are fond of farming tons of materials and gathering nodes non-stop and are sick and tired of constantly having to stop by NPCs to purchase gathering tools, it is time to give yourself an upgrade. The Unlimited Gathering Tools do exactly as it says on the tin with some providing more than that. Some even have cool graphic effects so you don’t just see your character doing the mundane action of chopping trees, mining ore, and looting herbs.
Tips:
- Save up for one of each Unlimited Gathering Tool as you can and place it in your Bank Storage.
- Remember the Account-wide Shared Inventory? Just place the tools in the shared slots once you are done, but you may need three of these slots or four, because…
1. Copper-Fed Salvage-o-matic
The Copper-Fed Salvage-omatic is hands down going to be one of the most used items in your inventory alongside Mystic Salvage kits. This infinite basic salvage kit replaces the need to constantly purchase the basic variation from various trader NPCs when you are looking to break items down into materials at the cost of just a few copper.
Tips:
- The Copper Salvage-o-matic replaces the Basic Salvage Kit and can be used to mass salvage all your blue and green items in one go to de-clutter your inventory space.
- Pair this item with a Mystic Salvage Kit that you can easily craft using the blue, green, and yellow kits and a Mystic Forge Stone and combine them in the Mystic Forge.
- Avoid purchasing multiple of these by using the Account-wide Inventory slot and placing this in the first item slot.
