First off, I know that in the coming days (and even as I write this) people are going to be flooding this section of the forums with their ides on how the new tier and mechanics added to armor are going to work. I just want to get my thoughts out of the way before things get too muddy for anyone to see.
I like the idea ArenaNet has in terms of giving players something higher to aim for after they’re level 80 and have a full set of exotics and their Legendary. Quite frankly, except for getting a Legendary weapon, getting to 80 and a full set of exotics isn’t that overly challenging. I do want people to have long term goals in this game, and I hope that my idea gives players just that. Long terms goals that they can establish rules for from a variety of sources. Let begin no?
Infusion should be an actual upgrade to Exotic Armor.
What I mean by this is that players should have the option to infuse an exotic piece of armor, changing it to match the new standards of max level gear. Once infused, an “Exotic” piece of armor becomes an “Infused Exotic” piece. It retains its appearance and rune slot, but gains the new Infusion Slot and gets its stats upped to the new stat level. Though a new question pops up; How will we be able to upgrade our existing Exotic armor?
This can be done in one of two ways; completing five runs in Fractals of the Mists, defeating the Meta level boss that is said to be fought during your fifth run; or completing a Story Mode dungeon. If players do it the more challenging way, by upgrading via Fractals of the Mists, they are giving a reward for doing so. Players are given an Infusion that they can then place in their armor piece’s new Infusion Slot. They can also upgrade their armor every fifth run of the dungeon, which is something that is going to be limited to one run a day to players who only upgrade their armor via Story Mode of the older dungeons.
Now I know what some of you are thinking; Why is upgrading via Story Mode Dungeons going to only yield a single upgraded armor piece per day, and not even come with an Infusion? The answer is simple; Fractals of the Mists is going to be hard, and get even harder the more times a player is going to go into the dungeon. Not to mention the limited exposure that the new Agony condition has in the game. It will only be found in Fractals of the Mists and in a few sections of the Lost Shores event. Not to the main complaint that the new tier is getting is not based on the addition on Infusion and Agony, but on the stat increase that Ascended armor gives. Getting Exotic armor was still a daunting task for players during the start of the game, and so should getting Infused Exotics be for players as a mean of progression.
How will we get Infusions then?
Simple; Through special recipes in the Mystic Forge. They of course shouldn’t be on par with the recipes used to make Legendary weapons, but they should be tricky enough to get players working on getting them. I like to think of it as the equivalent of getting the Infused Exotic from Fractals of the Mists, but without all the dying and rage quits!
Now that we have the cake, I think we should add a bit of icing no?
Let Ascended Armor Stay!
Ascended will not be a stat higher than Infused Exotic, but will share the same stat limit similar to how Legendary weapons are going to get their stats upped as well! What makes Ascended armor different than Infused Exotic though, is that it will automatically come with an Infused slot with an Infusion already inside! What’s more, obtaining Ascended armor is going to on par in terms of obtaining a Legendary weapon.
Why would people go into the trouble of getting Ascended armor then? Simple; Ascended armor will be just as visually stunning as Legendary weapons! They will glow, have particle effects, and make your character truly stand out in a crowd!
Overall, my idea will give players of all walks of gaming life their cake which they can also eat! If you just want the stat increase, then do Story Mode dungeons and use the Mystic Forge to get the Infusions; if you want to take on that challenge that is the Fractals of the Mists, then just do the dungeon (eventually you’ll get your full set of Infused Exotics that already have the Infusions that you want)! If you want to get armor that’ll make you a literal god walking among mere mortals; then Ascended armor will give you the challenges that getting the highest rarity armor used to give you in Guild Wars!
Anyway, that is all I want to share! If you have a question or comment, then please feel free to post them out!