Guild Wars 2

Preface:

I decided to post this here in the Suggestion thread, since it deals more with ideas on how to improve the presence of Ascended items. Like many others, I’m deeply disappointed with the introduction of the Ascended tier, but ANet has made changes based on community feedback/outrage before. See the Mad King Chests for a good example. As such, I’m going to try and approach this from a more balanced, positive angle that allows for compromise on both sides.

First off, I hope ANet realises that the Ascended tier is totally vertical progression, no matter how they dress it up. It’s something they promised they wouldn’t do, and they broke that promise. For my fellow players, if you feel that broken promise is enough to make you quit the game, that is your choice and prerogative. (And if I’d been in the position of having several Exotic sets too, under the impression I was done grinding, I might have done the same.)

That said, I’m not totally unsympathetic to ANet’s side of the story; I work in IT myself. I understand that things can and do change. The world is constantly shifting, and you need to constantly adapt to meet those shifts. Promises can (and sometimes must) be broken, if circumstances change enough.

So, despite the outrage and anger over the introduction of Ascended items and infusions, there’s also a lot of us who still want to stay. We love the game, the world, too much to let it go. And we’ll grudgingly accept that Ascended tier is here to stay; now that people have had a taste of what Ascended/Legendary items can offer, they’re not going to want to go back. What ANet CAN do to mitigate this situation is two-fold, by:

a) Minimising the impact of Ascended items
b) Providing more options to acquire Ascended items

Minimising the impact of Ascended items

There is a large amount of concern from players that players with Legendary/Ascended items will have an advantage over players who don’t, due to the greater bonuses granted by those items. (And it seems that, with Infusions, this gap could be even wider.) This may not be so much of a problem in PvE, aside from elitism when grouping, but it could be a serious issue for sPvP and WvW, where battles can be won or lost due to a difference of 50 HP.

To eliminate this concern, ANet could simply scale down the power of Legendary/Ascended items so that they are no more powerful than Exotic items while in sPvP or WvW. They could even go as far as scaling them down in PvE, except when within the Fractals dungeon, although I imagine this will meet resistance from players who already have Legendaries/Ascended items.

Providing more options to acquire Ascended items

A large part of the discontent about Ascended items comes from the fact that players either:

a) Don’t want to be forced to “grind dungeons” to get Ascended items, or

b) the time and money they spent on their Exotic items was “wasted” because they have to re-obtain an Ascended set.

ANet can address both these issues by making it easier to get Ascended items by offering more options to players. Here’s some ideas:

1. Buff Exotic dungeon armor/equipment so they are Ascended tier, and retroactively apply this upgrade to all existing dungeon wares. (I’d also argue for Tier 3 cultural armor to be buffed, given its cost, but this is up for debate.)

2. Introduce new crafting recipes that allow crafters to make Ascended tier items. They may require a rare type of component that is obtained from the Fractals dungeon, from Dungeon Vendors (the “Gift of Ascension” is a possibility) or from high-end PvE/WvW chests.

3. Introduce new Mystic Forge recipes that allow players to upgrade existing Exotic items by placing it into the Forge, along with a special Infusion item (again, this could be the “Gift of Ascension”), which will spit out an Ascended item with an Infusion slot that has the exact same appearance as the Exotic item.

4. (I don’t like this solution, but I know some people would go for it in a heartbeat.) Add a new gem store item (Master Transmutation Stone?) that will upgrade level 80 Exotic items (and only level 80 Exotic items) to Ascended items. Master Transmutation Stones could also be added as rare drops from Black Lion Chests, or from completing Daily/Monthly achievements.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, but I welcome more ideas from others.

Closing:

I hope that you take these suggestions seriously, ANet. We love your work. The quality of the stuff that went into Halloween was nothing short of amazing, and we admire the passion and effort you and your staff put into the game. We want to work with you to make a game that everybody can enjoy.

~ Zaxares

Seconded for making ascended stat bonus have limited areas of effect. A lot of people are coming up with this solution, indicating it’s a popular fix.

First off, I hope ANet realises that the Ascended tier is totally vertical progression, no matter how they dress it up. It’s something they promised they wouldn’t do, and they broke that promise. For my fellow players, if you feel that broken promise is enough to make you quit the game, that is your choice and prerogative. (And if I’d been in the position of having several Exotic sets too, under the impression I was done grinding, I might have done the same.)

I totally agree with you. I am one of these who actually seriously consider leaving the game because this is a tendency I totally dislike in mmorpg. According to me : “vertical progression game” = “korean grinding farming game” = “‘skill’<‘played time’ game”.

I consider the interest of a game should never be in grinding : you play part of the game you dislike because you want a specific reward… but you dislike what you are doing… this prevent you playing the part you like (this is exactly like farming for me : this is a fail mecanic of the game).

By the way, if they want to make a mmorpg better than the other, they shouldn’t reuse mechanics that cause their long-term dullness. (GW1 success in this part : you just farm for skin/title : you can show you have more experience, but if you win/fail, this is only due to you/your team but never the stuff).

But one thing is sure : if they do this again (prefer satisfying and give advantage to 20H played per day but low skilled players rather than real skilled player that play less often, and no they rarely are the same) I will leave this game.

3. Introduce new Mystic Forge recipes that allow players to upgrade existing Exotic items by placing it into the Forge, along with a special Infusion item (again, this could be the “Gift of Ascension”), which will spit out an Ascended item with an Infusion slot that has the exact same appearance as the Exotic item.

this is really the best solution that I also find by myself. but there should be 2 Mystic Forge recipes : one with to get a standard new ascended skin & the other to keep the old one.

Moreover these recipes shouldn’t be as inaccessible than legendary (legendary should only be a prestigious skin).
This way should also be the only way to get an ascended stuff with chosen stats.

that’s my point of view

Well i saw on the post the dev made to counter the rage they unleashed, that they would apply ways to get ascension gear many ways.

Pretty much this is what im waiting to see. There is also the promise about how we would all be able to get max stats gear without an horrible grind. Im also waiting on this.