Guild Wars 2

There needs to be an upgrade system where each item starts out at +1 and you can upgrade the stats by upgrading the item to +2 or +3, etc…

Each upgrade comes with a 50% chance of failure which would destroy the item.

This would add a whole new dynamic to the trading post and the in-game market.

Imagine Legendary items at +10.

Perhaps each time you upgrade the item it shines more or has more elemental effect to make the item looks cooler.

Yeah at 50% chance for it to destroy the item there’s no way in hell anyone is going to “upgrade” their legendary.

Seriously, what’s the point?

Tradewind.6913:

Yeah at 50% chance for it to destroy the item there’s no way in hell anyone is going to “upgrade” their legendary.

You’d be surprised! Wealthy players or those who enjoy the high risk, high reward would take advantage of such a feature. Imagine getting lucky and fully upgrading a legendary weapon. It really would be legendary, then.

If you want ridiculous mechanics like this, play a Korean MMO. After playing Aion and TERA, I think I’ll pass on such an awful RNG system. :/

Spitwyld.1963:

Tradewind.6913:

Yeah at 50% chance for it to destroy the item there’s no way in hell anyone is going to “upgrade” their legendary.

You’d be surprised! Wealthy players or those who enjoy the high risk, high reward would take advantage of such a feature. Imagine getting lucky and fully upgrading a legendary weapon. It really would be legendary, then.

After what has been 1 week into the dozens of weeks of making my Legendary I’d rather sit on a lemon reamer than risk losing it

That was one of the worst things in Aion. I would not want that in this game.

Rpgtabbycat.5869:

That was one of the worst things in Aion. I would not want that in this game.

You are probably saying that because you gambled on an upgrade and failed.

The risk / reward dynamic is what adds a whole new dimension to the item market.

Currently in Gw2 if you have the same item as someone else, it is exactly the same…

Adding upgrading capabilities will allow players to stand out… add their own status and gamble with upgrading those stats.

I don’t see anything wrong in letting people attempt an upgrade if they have the balls to do so.

It also gives the game TONS of replayability… people will want to craft NUMEROUS legendary items to attempt to get +2 … or possibly +5… who knows how much gamble they have in their blood!!!

I was excited to see the Mystic Forge… and ArenaNet could easily modify the Mystic Forge to allow this type of Item Upgrade capability for Weapons/Armor/Runes/Sigils… etc

I understand what the OP wants, which is some sort of advancement when at max lvl and gear. However, that upgrade option is not a good idea.

Say someone does get a weapon and set of armor to +10. That person will be more powerful than a person with a +1 set. That will skew the balance of the game, and make people with more money/time more powerful than the rest… That would put us back into the track of giving more power to the people with more money/time. Something that Anet is trying to avoid.

So it would not be a good idea. I think we should have lots of things we can do at 80, and they can be very time consuming, but they should not reward extra power.

Rounder.6703:

You are probably saying that because you gambled on an upgrade and failed.

The risk / reward dynamic is what adds a whole new dimension to the item market.

Currently in Gw2 if you have the same item as someone else, it is exactly the same…

Adding upgrading capabilities will allow players to stand out… add their own status and gamble with upgrading those stats.

I don’t see anything wrong in letting people attempt an upgrade if they have the balls to do so.

It also gives the game TONS of replayability… people will want to craft NUMEROUS legendary items to attempt to get +2 … or possibly +5… who knows how much gamble they have in their blood!!!

I was excited to see the Mystic Forge… and ArenaNet could easily modify the Mystic Forge to allow this type of Item Upgrade capability for Weapons/Armor/Runes/Sigils… etc

NO. Just no.

An enchanting upgrade system like the one you describe is literally one of the most grindy things ever implemented in an MMO. ArenaNet was trying to do away with stupid, needless grinding.

Getting gear upgrades in Aion wasn’t even fun, because instead of getting a new chest piece and saying “Awesome, this is much better than my old one!” it was “Great, now I have to try and upgrade it without blowing all of my money.” Not fun AT ALL.

Kal.2376:

I understand what the OP wants, which is some sort of advancement when at max lvl and gear. However, that upgrade option is not a good idea.

Say someone does get a weapon and set of armor to +10. That person will be more powerful than a person with a +1 set. That will skew the balance of the game, and make people with more money/time more powerful than the rest… That would put us back into the track of giving more power to the people with more money/time. Something that Anet is trying to avoid.

So it would not be a good idea. I think we should have lots of things we can do at 80, and they can be very time consuming, but they should not reward extra power.

What I am proposing is minor upgrades that would only give a slight boost to stats.

It would not be huge stat increases.

For example.

Weapon at +1:
200 – 320 attack power
+15 power
+10 precision

Same weapon at +2
201 – 321 attack power
+15 power
+10 precision
+ 1 to a random bonus stat

Same weapon at +3
201 – 322
+15 power
+ 10 precision
+ 1 to a random bonus stat
+ 0.5% condition duration

Same weapon at +4
202 – 323
+ 16 power
+ 11 precision
+ 1 to a random bonus stat
+ 0.5% condition duration

Same weapon at +5
203-325
+ 16 power
+ 11 precision
+ 2 to random bonus stat
+ 1% condition duration
(ADDS glowing effect to any weapon at +5)

• USING THE ABOVE SCALE, with 50% success rate on each step… = 3% chance of successful upgrade to +5 *

So the bonus status will only happen roughly 3% of the time to +5….

These bonus status are not going to imbalance the game…

They are merely there to give someone the idea in the back of their head that they are increasing the capability of their characters. This is to encourage replayability.

Nobody wants a cookie-cutter character, this will allow the player to stand out and achieve a glowing weapon at +5…

Zeffy.3984:

Rounder.6703:

You are probably saying that because you gambled on an upgrade and failed.

The risk / reward dynamic is what adds a whole new dimension to the item market.

Currently in Gw2 if you have the same item as someone else, it is exactly the same…

Adding upgrading capabilities will allow players to stand out… add their own status and gamble with upgrading those stats.

I don’t see anything wrong in letting people attempt an upgrade if they have the balls to do so.

It also gives the game TONS of replayability… people will want to craft NUMEROUS legendary items to attempt to get +2 … or possibly +5… who knows how much gamble they have in their blood!!!

I was excited to see the Mystic Forge… and ArenaNet could easily modify the Mystic Forge to allow this type of Item Upgrade capability for Weapons/Armor/Runes/Sigils… etc

NO. Just no.

An enchanting upgrade system like the one you describe is literally one of the most grindy things ever implemented in an MMO. ArenaNet was trying to do away with stupid, needless grinding.

Getting gear upgrades in Aion wasn’t even fun, because instead of getting a new chest piece and saying “Awesome, this is much better than my old one!” it was “Great, now I have to try and upgrade it without blowing all of my money.” Not fun AT ALL.

Just because a different game implemented a BAD upgrade system, doesn’t mean Arenanet can’t use a GOOD upgrade system.

Players shouldn’t feel like they must upgrade. Upgrading should actually be a very risky proposition and only for players who have the guts to do so… or if they have extra items that are worthless and they are willing to take a risk to upgrade them.

Currently the Gw2 item trading post is broken….

I make more money selling my items to NPC’s then i do selling on the trading post.

If we had upgrade system i might take a chance to get those boots to +5 and sell them on the trading post to actually be able to make a profit…

currently its impossible to make a decent profit off the trading house with random greens and blues.

Games with this feature are heavily gear-based.

GW2 isn’t heavily gear based. Gear is important, but not THAT important.

MithranArkanere.8957:

Games with this feature are heavily gear-based.

GW2 isn’t heavily gear based. Gear is important, but not THAT important.

Did you not read my post above.

Most other games give huge bonuses to upgraded items.

I would suggest doing only a minor upgrade system with diminishing returns.

People with +1 gear would still do just fine against people in all +5 or greater gear

Rounder.6703:

Nobody wants a cookie-cutter character, this will allow the player to stand out and achieve a glowing weapon at +5…

Then why not offer the glow only, without the stats? It does not matter if the bonus only increases 0.1% of your stats. It’s still an increase, and makes the items of player A, more powerful than the items of the player B. That is not a good direction to go… And eventually, someone will get a weapon to +100, increasing all stats by 6-7% or something, and that will really mess the game.

I’m ok with offering other cosmetic options (glows, etc), but never power. Even small increases in power are not a good idea in the end.

Rounder.6703:

Just because a different game implemented a BAD upgrade system, doesn’t mean Arenanet can’t use a GOOD upgrade system.

Players shouldn’t feel like they must upgrade. Upgrading should actually be a very risky proposition and only for players who have the guts to do so… or if they have extra items that are worthless and they are willing to take a risk to upgrade them.

Currently the Gw2 item trading post is broken….

I make more money selling my items to NPC’s then i do selling on the trading post.

If we had upgrade system i might take a chance to get those boots to +5 and sell them on the trading post to actually be able to make a profit…

currently its impossible to make a decent profit off the trading house with random greens and blues.

Again, NO. Seriously.

You posted this same idea three days ago and no one even responded. Systems like the one you want are AWFUL. It’s a grindy mechanic in every MMO that’s done it, and GW2 would be no different.

Being able to upgrade items isn’t about “having the guts to try it”; people will do it to become more powerful than other people (even if it’s only a little bit), and GW2 will go from an equal playing field to yet another grindy game where the people with the most gold have the most power. If I wanted to play a game with mechanics like that, I would have stuck with TERA.

Kal.2376:

Rounder.6703:

Nobody wants a cookie-cutter character, this will allow the player to stand out and achieve a glowing weapon at +5…

Then why not offer the glow only, without the stats? It does not matter if the bonus only increases 0.1% of your stats. It’s still an increase, and makes the items of player A, more powerful than the items of the player B. That is not a good direction to go… And eventually, someone will get a weapon to +100, increasing all stats by 6-7% or something, and that will really mess the game.

I’m ok with offering other cosmetic options (glows, etc), but never power. Even small increases in power are not a good idea in the end.

What’s the difference if you are up against someone with Legendary items?

The whole point of MMO’s is character progression.

At level 80 you still want to feel like you are progressing your character… even if by a slight margin

I kind of like the upgrading idea. But, 50% chance to break the item?? Unless I had like 50 of them, yeah no. But I good change to that would be if you needed a special component to upgrade items. And those components would be rare. When used, the first upgrade would have a 0% chance to fail, but 2nd would be 10%, 3rd 20%, 4th 30%, and so on. But the percent would be only to fail (meaning lose that rare/expensive upgrade component), but item wouldn`t break. [and also, the upgrades shouldn’t effect the gear too much, being that this game isn’t heavily gear based]
/opinion

Johnny Boi.4980:

I kind of like the upgrading idea. But, 50% chance to break the item?? Unless I had like 50 of them, yeah no. But I good change to that would be if you needed a special component to upgrade items. And those components would be rare. When used, the first upgrade would have a 0% chance to fail, but 2nd would be 10%, 3rd 20%, 4th 30%, and so on. But the percent would be only to fail (meaning lose that rare/expensive upgrade component), but item wouldn`t break. [and also, the upgrades shouldn’t effect the gear too much, being that this game isn’t heavily gear based]
/opinion

The problem with the tiered system is that it would be too easy to get your item up to +8 or so with little risk

The upgrade system should be the same % chance every upgrade for every item.

The bonuses to the item should be diminishing returns.

so the best stats you would get is from +1 to +2…

The benefit to the player of getting to +5 is they can show off their glowy weapon, and it would be rare (only 3% of the time would you get to +5)

going beyond +5 to +6 or +7 would give less and less stats and still incur the 50% chance of failure…

So you would hardly ever see any items higher than +5… and even if someone was crazy to go higher than +5 the bonuses wouldn’t be that much greater anyway so who cares

if someone wants to upgrade it and take the chance, let them… it wouldn’t be any imabalance to the game

Another idea to add upon the Mystic Forge already in place.

When you put 4 items of the exact same type… there could be a slight chance that you get same item but at +2 upgrade.

This would prevent you from losing your item because you will always get a better item out of the mystic forge…

so why not add the opportunity for the mystic forge to give out a +2 upgrade of the 4 same items you put in the mystic forge.

Having the Mystic Forge in the game lends me to the idea that ArenaNet possibly has item upgrading in guild wars 2’s future.

I would really like to hear from a Anet Developer to see what they think on the issue.

What does the night crew think.

This is directly counter to the design intentions of this game, which have been long established. Many people fell in love with Guild Wars, and 2, because there wasn’t a ridiculous gear grind or treadmill in which people felt the need to get “the best gear.” Any system even remotely like what you describe would be cosmetic only.

Hey, if you want an upgrade/gamble system in the game, just give random people all your money, and leave the game. Go find one that suits your taste. Leave Guild Wars 2, as flawed from Guild Wars as it is, Alone.

My personal opinion: I have hated such system in almost all the games I’ve tried. It basically means that any “plain” gear is useless and only the +8 – +10 are worth anything.

It would kill the nice balance we have (all gear of same level and same rarity is equal), so it would be less about skill and more about gear.

Grouping up would also suffer. I don’t really want to see “LFG full exotic +10 randomclasshere” and being kicked from parties from not having at least full +7 for example. There are places for gambling, such as Mystic Forge (I don’t mean set recipes here at the moment) that can be rather rewarding.

I understand what you mean and the feeling of that high reward after a successful upgrade. I, too, once loved to upgrade/enchant my weapons in previous MMO’s.

No offense, but I think this would be best suited for traditional MMO’s; though it sounds like a great idea, it just wouldn’t fit in with GW2’s system and philosophy. Especially when this game is about how skillful you are and what different types of builds you’re running, adding a +10 enchanted weapon would defeat the purpose.

I can already sense gear grinding out of this, and with the ability to buy gems and converting it into in-game currency, this can turn into a pay-2-win.

Who knows, maybe Anet might add something similar, but won’t be too game-breaking.

I feel like the people for this thread have come from playing Aion. Having +10 gear make a huge imbalance when comparing to say a level 32 in WvW when you’re level 80 etc. The game is designed so that you don’t have OP gear. That being said you can get your gear to +10 with your playing skills.

But what about the feeling of character accomplishment you have when you upgraded a great weapon and it is uniquely yours.

You crafted the item, and you upgraded it yourself. It is now a glowing masterpiece for you to show off to all of Tyria.

I know Anet could make an upgrade system that will be fair and balanced.

Treadmill in disguise. No, thanks.

People would just get the cheapest exotic and spam it to +max, then transmute the legendary skin over it. The stat difference between legendary and exotic isn’t that big to throw hundreds of hours away on a random chance.

This game isn’t gear based. Giving more numbers to people who play more is what anet wants to avoid. All this system would do is segregate people through how much your weapon is upgraded (the dreaded LF1M must have +6 weapon).

They already have sigils to differentiate your weapon.

Wasselin.1235:

They already have sigils to differentiate your weapon.

Yes but there is no achievement in adding a sigil.

I absolutely love these types of systems. I’m not quite sure it’s something ArenaNet would even consider, but I would really love to have an option like this.

This goes all the way back to the days of enchanting in The Realm when people would try and put 4 or 5 permanent enchantments on their weapons/armor at the risk of having them destroyed, and it was awesome.

They had this in Mu Online…. it was an okay system… but this brings the game back to going after the gear. Guild Wars 2 is not and MMORPG about the GEAR it is about player SKILL. I want to play a game because I am good at PLAYING it, not because I am good at sitting there for hours on end getting the best gear and then going and upgrading it.

Ikavan.2876:

They had this in Mu Online…. it was an okay system… but this brings the game back to going after the gear. Guild Wars 2 is not and MMORPG about the GEAR it is about player SKILL. I want to play a game because I am good at PLAYING it, not because I am good at sitting there for hours on end getting the best gear and then going and upgrading it.

Everyone incorrectly keeps saying this game is about “skill” and not “gear”

Then why even have gear?

This game is about BOTH skill and gear.

ArenaNet needs to strike a balance between the two.

We should be able to upgrade our weapons, but make it a risky proposition with diminishing returns.

I would love to see the crying when an expansion comes (that allows us to level up to 90 for example), and that +15 bow that took millions to upgrade is now obsolete… Oh, and there would be crying. In epic proportions…

I still dislike he idea of the system. I still stick with the previous reasons as well that it is bad idea to give extra power to some people (that have more time or money), even if it’s a slight power upgrade.

I’m all for character advancement, just not in more powerful gear.

The whole point of playing an MMO is that you put a lot of time and effort into your character (to improve the character level and gear).

I don’t understand why all gear should be the same and everyone be exactly the same stats.

That would make the game more like a first-person shooter… like a Halo MMO, or Counter Strike MMO.

The more ability to customize our characters the better.

ArenaNet needs to get creative and strike a balance between skill and gear.

Rounder.6703:

Ikavan.2876:

They had this in Mu Online…. it was an okay system… but this brings the game back to going after the gear. Guild Wars 2 is not and MMORPG about the GEAR it is about player SKILL. I want to play a game because I am good at PLAYING it, not because I am good at sitting there for hours on end getting the best gear and then going and upgrading it.

Everyone incorrectly keeps saying this game is about “skill” and not “gear”

Then why even have gear?

This game is about BOTH skill and gear.

ArenaNet needs to strike a balance between the two.

We should be able to upgrade our weapons, but make it a risky proposition with diminishing returns.

This, really. It’s not asking for huge upgrades, it’s not affecting sPvP. It’s less of a boost than holding an orb in WvW. It’s something for people to do. It’s a nice risk/reward system (which games need more of, imo).

The dreadful dungeons already add more than enough of a Korean MMO flavour to Guild Wars 2.

Kal.2376:

I would love to see the crying when an expansion comes (that allows us to level up to 90 for example), and that +15 bow that took millions to upgrade is now obsolete… Oh, and there would be crying. In epic proportions…

I still dislike he idea of the system. I still stick with the previous reasons as well that it is bad idea to give extra power to some people (that have more time or money), even if it’s a slight power upgrade.

I’m all for character advancement, just not in more powerful gear.

first of all, if you implement the upgrade system the way i proposed with 50% success rate and diminishing returns…

The odds of getting something to +15 is 0.003% chance.

The stats for going to +14 to + 15 would be less benefit then going from +13 to +14.

Catch my drift?

Your analogy of the game expansion going to level 90 with new weapons would make ALL CURRENT WEAPONS obsolete.

Your argument is invalid.

Rounder.6703:

There needs to be an upgrade system where each item starts out at +1 and you can upgrade the stats by upgrading the item to +2 or +3, etc…

Each upgrade comes with a 50% chance of failure which would destroy the item.

This would add a whole new dynamic to the trading post and the in-game market.

Imagine Legendary items at +10.

Perhaps each time you upgrade the item it shines more or has more elemental effect to make the item looks cooler.

theres already games like that

lineage 2 guy with item +16 is one man army

aion same as above

in both games pvp suck hard

saurus.8290:

Rounder.6703:

There needs to be an upgrade system where each item starts out at +1 and you can upgrade the stats by upgrading the item to +2 or +3, etc…

Each upgrade comes with a 50% chance of failure which would destroy the item.

This would add a whole new dynamic to the trading post and the in-game market.

Imagine Legendary items at +10.

Perhaps each time you upgrade the item it shines more or has more elemental effect to make the item looks cooler.

theres already games like that

lineage 2 guy with item +16 is one man army

aion same as above

in both games pvp suck hard

Re-read my proposal. The benefits of upgrading would have a diminishing return.

There wouldn’t be people who are overpowered because the system would be designed in such a way that the stats benefits are minimal.

Have fun farming your legendary over 10 times when it fails at +8

Euphoria.2960:

Have fun farming your legendary over 10 times when it fails at +8

Considering the odds of even making a +5 would be only 3%, i highly doubt you would see any +8 legendary’s

No to the power grind!!!!! Go grind for cosmetics, plenty of options.

Cal.1985:

No to the power grind!!!!! Go grind for cosmetics, plenty of options.

You do understand that PvE is just a power grind already?

There is no harm in allowing players to upgrade their weapons.

Rounder.6703:

The whole point of MMO’s is character progression.

No, the whole point of MMOs is to play in a persistent world with other people. Lots of games have character progression. MMOs are the only ones with a world that continues, after you stop playing.

Rounder.6703:

But what about the feeling of character accomplishment you have when you upgraded a great weapon and it is uniquely yours.

You get a feeling of accomplishment from that? I mean, even disregarding the concept of feeling ‘accomplishment’ from a video game – in your proposal, the only accomplishment you managed was to get a decent roll from the RNG. That’s something to be proud of, right there.

This is just another example of the ‘phat lewt’ syndrome that causes mudflation and plagues current gaming trends.

No. Just no.

Adding an upgrade system is the only way the trading post is ever going to be a meaningful way to make money.

Currently all i do is sell my blues/greens to the NPC and net more money than the trading post.

Imagine if you could attempt to upgrade some of the blues and greens that you would normally just NPC.

This would create a whole new item market to strengthen the Gw2 in-game economy.

Currently the Gw2 economy is a complete joke.

What part of GW2 not being a power grind do you not yet understand?

Tradewind.6913:

What part of GW2 not being a power grind do you not yet understand?

Then why even have levels? Why have different types of items?

Gw2 PvE is a power grind…

What part of this do you not yet understand?