Guild Wars 2

Box-gloves, gw2-shirts/caps, some other stuff i cant remember… and now even a quaggan backpack, that is not even town clothes anymore.

I remenber aion. I tested a few other online-Games. Nothing can compare to the beauty and style of GW2 so far (at least in my opinion), but aion also wasn’t this ugly. But one of the most horrible things in aion was the equipment. You can devide it in three categories:

1. Boring, but nice:
The most beginner equipment was a bit boring and also mostly not my taste, but you could get a nice armor with a bit luck (i only played a bit and don’t know how to get armor) and the weapons were also not so bad looking. GW2 is of course far better.

2. Shiny in a disgusting way.
In towns, half of the high level players were running around in blinking armors. Female chars a bit like fairys, but more in a techno way than in a fairy way. The males often look like blinking playrobots of little childs. Both looked interesting on the one sinde but unbearable of the amount of players running around shiny like a christmas tree. Nothing compareable in GW2 yet, maybe legendaries, which you so far never see. But i really fear legendary armor…

3. (too) modern
The other half ran around in modern outfits with a sci-fi touch (extraordinary and a bit shiny with floating shoes) or like teenagers (t-shirts, school dresses). I really cant stand these outfits, they fit for sims or for a sci-fi game, but not to aion’s world (in my eyes) and even less to gw2. Still, it may starts with a cute quaggan backpack and ends with gothic-lolitas with angelwings (the girly faces and some of the hairstyles already fit to this picture) and i really fear such a future with players running around like this.

Hey, I changed my opinion! GW2 reached the point where players look hilarious more and more. BTW, after this thread is already kind of a complain-thread, I will complain more. I played a bit GW1 again, and really, players are always the most disgusting things in the game, so many absolutly non-fitting skinn combined armors… still, GW1 armors look so much better, even the combination of the most ugly parts look at most like many standard armors in GW2… And even the areas… I ran a bit around in the shiverpeaks… foes running around in teams, vaettirs popping out of trees and then the locations, any place looks different, exciting! Sry, but in GW2, the foes standing everywhere around alone and coming back after a few seconds… yeah, it is a open world, but this is nothing like a great feeling, no thrill and also I cannot stand around to enjoy the locations, cause foes come always back… Same for the locations, yeah, JPs and such things are really fun, the graphic also is much better than in GW2, still, running around, I have often the feeling to see the same things over and over again…

But there is another thing coming up and annoying me. I suggested already a few times before, that I wish for easy ways to get max-stat-equipment. For a casual, to get 5 charakters to lvl 80 and to get max equipment takes a lot of time. I think, I play far too much and spent to much time in GW2 (yeah, it is fun, but RL is more important afterall) and I still have only 2 charakters at lvl 80 and even they have not complete exotic armor (the right stats, some good skins and good upgrades on them) And ascended gear is still coming… What I want is to have max stats and to look well, I think, that is not asking for too much. Let me complain about the different areas, that are problematic in my eyes.

1. Exotic stats should be obtainable for everyone:
OK, Exotic gear is easy to obtain through dungeons or over gold – but dungens are not doable for everyone. There exist really players, that are not able to finish a dungeon and beside dungeon tokens, dungeons also give money. To get good stats should be easy for everyone, especially for the weaker players, that cannot even finish an dungeon. Also, I want to play a lot of things, but not only I, also many other players think, that max equipment and max lvl should be a must-have. Of course, even if the difference between rare and exotic is not such a big thing, a whole exotic team is still far better than a rare team. But to obtain this takes soo much time…

2. Why not easy obtainable?
Many players hate my suggestions, because they want to have better stats, they played more afterall. Furthermore, if you play each day a few hours as a good player, nearly anything beside a few weapons out of the mystic forge and legendaries seem already to be obtainable far to easy – especially, if you are mainstream, play only one charakter with one build, because even the expensive t3 for one charakter is cheap compared to full equipment for 5 charakters. Still, that is no reason for me. I played nearly only GW1, so I have no expirience with other games, but in GW1, it worked great with prestige having only better skins (like all prestige armors are t3). So I wish for that again: Max stats granted, Prestige skins not!

3. Ascended gear shouldnt only replace exotic gear
I dont have anything against ascended gear, so far it is as upgrade obtainable. It is OK to work for the wanted ascended gear instead of for the wanted exotic gear (trinkets and accessoires). It is OK to transformate the wanted ascended skins to your weapons. It is OK to upgrade your exotic gear with some new ascended mats or so. But to let us work hard for exotic gear with the fitting stats only to work afterwards again hard for ascended gear with the same stats, making your former work kind of worthless, sucks!

4. Helping the wrong players
I am a casual. I play not always. Now I read, that there will be often living story stuff coming not again. I hate the idea of missing content, even if the world changes not in a way confusing me. Furthermore, Laurels, FotM, Living Story back items and such things… You want to make equipment a challenge, but for the always playing players, these are extras, cause they play anyway and will get these thing as a side effect of playing. Especially FotM, although many players do not only have exotic gear yet, these players whine about getting ascended gear and not needing it… You shouldn’t give players having already everything even more as extra, while the others still work hard without any extras. Now you even want to give permanent boost for achievment point. Where is the sense in giving farmers buffs to gain even more from farming, while casuals, who could really need them, not? I mean, aren’t the farmers the actual problem? And especially the difference between playing one charakter and multiple alts. Of course, to equip only one charakter needs far less time than equipping 5/8 charakters. Wouldn’t be an extra to make equipping alts easier a logical change? It is afterall a difference to make equipment easier obtainable for everyone and to make it easier obtainable, after you worked already for it with another charakter.

5. Really challenges/better skins
It is a great way to devide equipment into easy obtainable and hard obtainable. The easy grants max stats to everyone, the hard is a challenge, that keeps player in the game. But there are three problems actually:

1. Hard obtainable means for many players also better stats. Like I said before, I am against this, look at legendaries, they have only better skins, this should be enough.
2. Where are the challenges? Dungeons are not that hard, FotM is the only really challange actual, but the numbersystem is soo annoying. Furthermore, most special rewards out of FotM are things, the FotM players do not need anymore… What we need is something like the UW again. Although this is harder without a healer-profession, the biggest challenge about the UW was, that the dead of some NPC meant the end, also a wipe throws you out. That is, what we need in GW2, an Instance, that fails, if some important NPCs get killed and that has no WPs!
3. One big problem about GW2… The skins, like I already said, they look hilarious. OK, of course they look good and exciting for many players, but especially this makes them also uninteresting for many players at the same time. A simple weapon is may a bit boring, but beside beeing boring, there are no other problems. Shiny weapons can look shiny in many ways and each player prefers and dislikes different shiny weapons. You know this from legendaries, many players complain about weapons not looking well enough for a legendary. So what is needed? No more easy dungeons with skins! Look at GW1, there are only a few normal armors with rather undetailed skins. On the other side there are tons of prestige armors to choose between. And there are also vaabi and obsidian armor, skins that are special and worth to show off!

Soo, what do I suggest? 5 Types of Equipment!

First something easy to obtain. May easier, if you have alts or so. These should have few normal and plain skins, for example to give crafting recipes for cheap, but account bound exotic equipment. Like Noble for middle, Country for light and Reinforced Scale for heavy.

Second, obtainable through dungeons. Although I cant find this intelligent. If you want the skin out of this dungeon, you will make this one, what reason do you have to do the others?

Third skins, that show, that you have money (t3), there are a few more needed, also maybe more expensive. I compare again with GW1. There were most armors prestige. One prestige was not the world, but still, it cost enough to reduce the players money.

Fourth special skins. Weapons can already be created in the mystic forge, but there nearly no weapons from loot and absolutly no armor. Some of you may remember the bone dragon skin or the frog scepter in GW1. The Obsisdian Armor (and the chaos gloves) was the most expensive equipment buyable from an NPC-merchant. But what about loot, their price is decided by the players. That can make even rather unspecial skins the most expensive in the game.

Fifth Legendaries… Yeah, there are the best of the best, but to be the best, you should be able to like the skins. The skins are extreme, hard to comby and realls special. Anyone can understand the disliking of the shortbow, honestly, many players like skinny girls or burning black males, so no wonder, that a bow looking like a unicorn for girls in kindergarden is not their imagination of a weapon worth the work!