Convenience and cosmetics. These are the foundational pillars of Guild Wars 2’s microtransactions, and back at GDC earlier this year, Game Director Crystin Cox opened up about how ArenaNet monetized its game using these pillars along with the free market and lootboxes.

“Expressing yourself, relating to other people, showing off, making a visual representation of who you are, is hugely important to a lot of MMO players, so that was always very high on our list,” she said. As for convenience items, Cox emphasized how the studio “respected people’s time” and wanted to make items that could trade time and money if so desired.

As for the dual currency system, Cox said that it has turned out quite well for the MMO: “I think we’ve done incredibly well with the free market because it accurately represents the value of the things that people are purchasing.”

Cox was admittedly more “fuzzy” in trying to define an ethical, non-painful lootbox experience, as she said that it came down to treating players right and not making them regret a purchase. But she said that she hopes the government does not get involved in regulation.

“Ultimately when it comes to lootboxes, I believe that there are times when lootboxes provide a real value to players,” she said. “They provide something that players want. It is very easy to misuse them, and to use them to satisfy a developer need instead of a player need.”