glittering weapons are Black Lion Specialties

Anet, after having downloading 64bit patch client, im still experiencing game crashes It would be nice to see some other glider skins get added to the game that aren't obtained through the gem store but I am glad that there's finally one that doesn't cost 700-2400 gems. ~84g isn't too bad for a shiny (shinies!) glider skin. But the glittering weapons are Black Lion Specialties, not gem store skins. The Black Lion Trading Company is the name of the gem store. The "Black Lion Specialties" are gem store skins that happen to be tradable and are locked behind RNG. The distinction between "gem store skins" and "Black Lion Specialties" is non-existent. They're both sold by the BLTC. The only difference is one can be purchased directly with gems and the other needs to be gambled for using keys purchased with gems (or directly from players using gold) GW2 Gold.

I personally prefer knowing exactly what I'm getting when spending real money or a lot of gold on gems. But apparently enough people like playing a digital lottery to make this system profitable.

I say they're not gem store skins because you don't have to spend real money to obtain them. Keys are available in game and you can buy chests cheap for a couple silver.Gem store implies real money must be spent to obtain. You can convert gold to gems. I bought the new glider with gems I bought with gold. Gem store skins are simply skins that are directly or indirectly bought with gems. How you obtain the gems (gold, real money, achievement rewards) Buy Guild Wars 2 Gold doesn't matter.

If an item is sold through the BLTC, it's a gem store item. The weapon skins are obtained through Black Lion Trading Company merchants and are bought with tickets obtained from chests that require gem store keys. Yes, you can rarely obtain keys as drops or as story rewards. But that doesn't mean they aren't still gem store items. The keys are sold for gems. The weapon tickets are locked behind RNG that requires those keys. Conceptually they're part of a micro transaction business model. ANet just happens to be more fair with it than other companies, and more fair than they used to be. When first introduced, the BLTC weapon skins couldn't be traded. They were account bound. They changed them to be tradable after a while (only newly obtained versions, though) but the original plan was to make them almost 100% exclusive to people buying gems.Converting gold to gems is a hefty exchange rate. Takes 100g or more to get enough gems to buy something, which isn't practical for some. Especially if they need their gold to make ascended items or legendaries. I believe nothing in this game requires real money to obtain. I have never spent real money for gems-store item/skins.   I have, and I need all my gold to craft my legendary.