Guild Wars 2

Hello,

This is a SUGGESTION to those who already obtained their Legendary..

So I want to get this out of the way right now, I am in no way suggesting that the Legendary weapons remain as hard as they are to get, this suggestion is about a form of reward or at least recognition for the players who obtained Legendary Weapon status via the; old way, boring way, expensive way – whichever of these fits best when we know more about Scavenger Hunt.

Just so everyone knows where I am coming from, I have two legendary weapons, Quip and The Predator. I was lucky enough to buy the precursor to Quip very early in the game and it only cost me 72g, however the precursor to The Predator cost me 475g, other precursors can cost up to 600g as I’m sure many of you are aware of.

This suggestion and forum post aims to not only see people’s thoughts but to maybe get some steam behind a suggestion so if precursors do become much easier/fun/quicker to obtain, the people like myself and anyone who currently has a legendary and has forked out ridiculous money for it get some sort of reward or at least recognition, personally a title wouldn’t really be something I’m interested in, however that might be exactly the sort of thing others might want, so by all means make your suggestion here.

I personally think that the best and most harmless solution would be to give all existing legendary weapons that were made “PRE” the scavenger hunt patch a prefix on the weapon “Antique, for example “Antique Quip”, “Antique Twilight”. Being able to prove my hard work and determination is enough for me personally, as I said I don’t believe that people should be punished or have to farm that amount of money just cause “well I had to do it, so should you”, but again some form of recognition would be nice.

Just think for a moment, why is it acceptable that ~25-40% of the journey to making a legendary weapon suddenly be changed, and the already crafted weapons not get affected in any way to reflect that. In an extreme point of view you could say that we should demand a refund, or compensation for our hard work.

Though most suggestions are welcome here, I would ask if you would not clutter the thread with ridiculous suggestions that are obviously not going to be considered, like the one above about getting a refund, or any kind of money back. Positive feedback and criticism is welcome however if you don’t like the idea you don’t have to post anything, and the thread will die out anyway.

I’m hoping Arena Net sees this post, and I’m hoping that the idea(s) can get some weight behind it so when scavenger hunt does come closer there’s some kind of benefit to the people who’ve already worked hard to get their legendary.

NOTES: These are some of the links I read to see how much we know about scavenger hunt. I have already searched the forum to find a suggestion like that and was unable to do so.
http://www.guildwars2hub.com/news/scavenger-hunt-precursors

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/981-update-on-precursor-scavenger-hunt/

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Hard work = grinding & gold farming?
No thanks. That doesn’t make you anywhere near legendary.

Sirendor.1394:

Hard work = grinding & gold farming?
No thanks. That doesn’t make you anywhere near legendary.

The same argument of “If I do lots of work, and play lots, why can’t I be rewarded” could be made. But in any case how does that statement relate to my suggestion or this thread, rather than your bitter feelings toward Legendary Weapon/Status in general?

Your recognition will be the legendary.

I highly doubt they will release a scavenger hunt for the precursors that already exist.

First gen legendaries will be Grind Wars 2, and hopefully next gen will be full of content and purpose.

Gnat.9405:

Your recognition will be the legendary.

I highly doubt they will release a scavenger hunt for the precursors that already exist.

First gen legendaries will be Grind Wars 2, and hopefully next gen will be full of content and purpose.

hmm, perhaps, but the official gw2 post that I linked in the original post talks about scavenger hunt and adding more ways to get precursors has a more generalised tone which suggestions it includes existing ones.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

The point is, the players who have a legendary through “the old way” as you like to call it, already got way too much recognition for their zombie behavior. I strongly dissent against giving them any more. Those weapons shouldn’t be given to no-life gold farmers, they should be given to people who actually did something.

This is not a “I didn’t have time to play 14 hours a day, but I still deserve legendary” argument, because I don’t think I would deserve a legendary. I play an average of some 2-3 hours daily (since the launch of the game). I just think the people who have a legendary at the moment deserve one even less than I do, cause the legendary status amounts to gathering 700g (Good job!) and involves no ‘challenges’.

Therefore I think people who earn legendaries through a scavenger hunt (if such a thing ever comes) should be rewarded, not the gold farmers.

To Sirendor

There are a lot of people who’ve gotten a legendary without being a zombie or “no-life gold farming”. I got Quip through slowly banking 2 or 3 gold every other day, though I admit The Predator I got through a lot more farming.

Legendary Weapons aren’t “given out”, they’re earned, it would be better if skill was more of a factor, there are a lot of people who wished they got lucky like all the people who didn’t need to “no-life” in order to get their legendary, for example doing a couple of transmutes in mystic forge and getting a precursor.

I don’t understand where you’re coming from to be honest, or how you’re contributing to this thread, are you mad at the name “Legendary”, are you mad because people who have one feel good about having one and you don’t?

You have the philosophy of a very selfish and lazy person to say that people who don’t do as much work deserve a reward more than those who do, if anything the gold farming shows determination / will power, and yes a lot of free time but who are you to judge how they spend their free time.

Anyway, the aim of this post is to either back this suggestion up, or provide better ones because " IF ", and at this stage it is only an " IF " there is a drastic change to how precursors or the legendary in general is obtained then it would be unfair from any perspective for that change to not affect those who already have a Legendary.

Having “Antique” at the start of the Legendary Weapon for all Legendary Weapons that were created before, for example, the next set of legendaries come out, or they change how they are obtained is really not going to hurt anyone.

@Sideron: "Who plays more, deserve more !!! "

It’s not a personal thing Ovredon, and I don’t even want a legendary, with the trash status it has. But I think legendaries that are in-game at the moment are not earned by skill. Of course people have made an effort for them, but that’s not a matter of skill.

“Legendary status” should be something you achieve by doing things others can not. This doesn’t necessarily involve 14 hours/day playing this game, it only requires being good at the game and it certainly shouldn’t involve a lottery, as you make your point.

I don’t criticize you personally, I critize the idea that you want to make legendaries ‘earned’ in the farm way instead of the challenge way a special something, while they obviously don’t have any reason to be better than the others. On the contrary, I think legendaries achieved through a scavenger hunt would be worth more than the legendaries there are now.

You say it requires will power to earn a legendary through farming, I think it requires mindlessness. That has nothing to do with laziness or selfishness. I’m not jaelous of people who have a legendary, I just think the people who got a legendary in that way don’t deserve it. I say, give them to altruistic and dedicated players, such as a lot of wvw commanders who work lots for their servers but often don’t get much for it (again I am not a commander, so I don’t want to claim a legendary).
If you think me lazy, selfish or jaelous, you’ve totally missed my point. It’s about the ethic of gaming.

Proeliator.4158:

@Sideron: "Who plays more, deserve more !!! "

I totally disagree. That’s the typical mentality I try to rebuke here. It’s not the time you play that counts, it’s the way you spend your time.

Sirendor.1394:

It’s not a personal thing Ovredon, and I don’t even want a legendary, with the trash status it has. But I think legendaries that are in-game at the moment are not earned by skill. Of course people have made an effort for them, but that’s not a matter of skill.

“Legendary status” should be something you achieve by doing things others can not. This doesn’t necessarily involve 14 hours/day playing this game, it only requires being good at the game and it certainly shouldn’t involve a lottery, as you make your point.

I don’t criticize you personally, I critize the idea that you want to make legendaries ‘earned’ in the farm way instead of the challenge way a special something, while they obviously don’t have any reason to be better than the others. On the contrary, I think legendaries achieved through a scavenger hunt would be worth more than the legendaries there are now.

You say it requires will power to earn a legendary through farming, I think it requires mindlessness. That has nothing to do with laziness or selfishness. I’m not jaelous of people who have a legendary, I just think the people who got a legendary in that way don’t deserve it. I say, give them to altruistic and dedicated players, such as a lot of wvw commanders who work lots for their servers but often don’t get much for it (again I am not a commander, so I don’t want to claim a legendary).
If you think me lazy, selfish or jaelous, you’ve totally missed my point. It’s about the ethic of gaming.

You are making the right argument with the wrong words. I agree that acquisition of legendary weapons is a tedious process that is basically a culmination of every part of the game violently hurled at the player. It’s understandable that you would be frustrated by wanting a legendary but not having the time our resources to get one, if that is the case.

The thing you have to realize is that this is the way Arena net is, and the demand of time for reward has always been irrational. You also have to realize that there is a store that accepts your money, and whether or not you want to believe it, that will always be part of the deciding factor in a decision the developers make. The more tedious a goal, the higher possibility of you pouring real money into it, and at a glance it may seem unfair, but business is business. The balance to that system is the fact that this is not a pay to win game. You can achieve as much statistically in character development without spending a dime as the next guy who pours hundreds into the gem store.

To Sirendor

In an ideal world, it would be a combination of skill “and” applying that skill for a certain amount of time. You should want nor expect a Legendary item, something that is supposed to be unique, to just fall onto your lap because you have fast reaction times, or can dodge out of the way of damage. Come on this is the suggestion forum, how can you apply “skill” to the creation of a Legendary.

Secondly, a scavenger hunt would represent again another “farming” method of gaining a legendary, it would be just as bad as what currently has to be done only you have more variety. Seriously even the name Scavenger Hunt suggests that it would be mindless “go here, go there” with a guide up in the background of all the locations, clearly skill based.

You brought up the work of the Commander, that is an entirely different topic, there really “should” be better rewards for WvW and even commanders, but not legendaries, come on. There are a ton of bad commanders out there, just cause they have an arrow does not make them gods. The good commanders out there should definitely get some form of reward for their time/effort/knowledge – but this is a different topic entirely so lets drop this..

Lastly, those who put more work into something, should in most cases be rewarded more than those who don’t, yes there is a contextual element to it such as what work they were actually doing, how much skill/knowledge was required but that is “NOT” the player’s fault, even people who farmed 10 hours a day, if there was an alternative they would’ve taken it but they wern’t and again that is another topic entirely; “a better ways to make legendary”.

Explain to me how harmful it would be for my idea/suggestion to be fulfilled?

To Gnat

I agree with what you say here about defending the tedium of farming for a Legendary Weapon. Personally I feel that most of the problem stems from there being very little variety, as Gamers we have taught our selves at one point to play optimally, meaning you wouldn’t go farming in Gendarren Fields until you have enough money for Legendary even if it was much more fun for whatever reason. Instead you’d go spam CoF P1, or the Skelks at Southsun cause it gives the most money..

My point being if there were a lot more variety of obtaining gold getting a legendary would be less of an issue, these other ways being more fun/challenging and generally more engaging…

Ovredon.9471:

To Sirendor

1. You should want nor expect a Legendary item, something that is supposed to be unique, to just fall onto your lap because you have fast reaction times, or can dodge out of the way of damage.

2. "Secondly, a scavenger hunt would represent again another “farming” method of gaining a legendary, it would be just as bad as what currently has to be done only you have more variety."

3. "but that is “NOT” the player’s fault, even people who farmed 10 hours a day, if there was an alternative they would’ve taken it"

4. Explain to me how harmful it would be for my idea/suggestion to be fulfilled?

1. I don’t expect legendaries to fall into people’s laps. I stated I am not interested in a legendary as it is today, not because I don’t want to work for it, but because I don’t see why it would add to my gaming experience.

2. The scavenging I think off is something less like the guild trek/ map completion grind we have seen so far, and something more like a real ‘hunt’, with quests and direction, personal choices and epic battles that reward you with a piece of your legendary. This process or hunt could take a few months imo, but it shouldn’t be a grind or a repetition. It should take the player to new places, all over the world, give him choices that really mean something and a real storyline behind the being legendary.

A legendary is usually a weapon with a legend or a story behind it, with grief but also joy, with defeats and with victories. THIS is what I would like to see.

3. It is not the player’s fault, no, but since the legendary at this moment is such a dubious item, I see it as a point of honour not to try and get one, but wait till something that is really legendary comes and takes it place.

4. Your suggestion doesn’t harm, but I can’t accept it from the point of view I have been defending throughout this thread. I don’t mean harm with this and this is (again) not something particularly to hurt you. I just don’t think it’s a good idea, cause it is based on the idea that the current legendaries deserve the name ‘legendary’.

Ovredon.9471:

My point being if there were a lot more variety of obtaining gold getting a legendary would be less of an issue, these other ways being more fun/challenging and generally more engaging…

One last comment on this aswell, just for clarity’s sake. “Variety of obtaining gold, then legendary would be less of an issue…” I fail to see why there should be any gold involved in legendaries at all. Legendaries aren’t about having money, it’s about (in a character view) being a hero and doing things others can’t. If Anet developed a special storyline, after you completed your personal story, which you can follow, and which took a lot of effort to complete, you could just adventure around, using a weapon of your choice. And during the adventures, your weapon gains certain characteristics…

For example:
I have a character named Sihur Fellblade, an Charr ash legion thief. What if through this story I suggest, he came to fight certain foes, he had to choose between a friend or a love, or had to kill or be killed… what if all his story choices influence the way the weapon is, as if the weapon remembers who you are… You killed a centurion perhaps, who was once a member of your warband. Would this make this make the blade of your sword a little bit blacker than it was? After a few more choices you notice blood begins to run along the edge of your sword etc…

Isn’t that what it means to be a Legend? Someone whose tale is worth telling, someone other people wish to follow. That’s what I’m looking for if I’m getting a legendary.
I know a lot of this is off-topic, but I like to discuss it, just because it is worth discussing.

By all means, continue with your suggestion, but think through all the stuff I have mentioned, and maybe see if it’s worth considering.

The only way anyone is every going to know if your Legendary bears the “antique” prefix is if you ping it for them. And to that end, I have to wonder why people feel the need to inform others that they spent a bunch of time/gold or got lucky in procuring a precursor. TC, ask yourself how much you really care to know if that random dude spamming up the /map chat in LA got his precursor pre- or post-scavenger hunt.

To Sirendor
I agree with a lot you wrote there Sirendor, but I think you’re picking on the name “Legendary” a bit too much and taking it too literally.

The thing that we really must keep in mind is that it is an MMO and many aspects of the game are supposed to provide longevity in gameplay, Legendary is something that is supposed to be a long-term goal, some even regard it as “End-game”, though I disagree with that particular notion I do believe that it is important it not be easy, nor quick to obtain else everyone would have one and that would cheapen the achievement.
I strongly agree more engaging ways of getting a legendary item would be a good idea, but even if we had to kill a certain amount of fire elementals in order to craft Incinerator:
The story/reason behind this would be that you have to kill a certain amount in order to infuse the precursor Spark with a sort of eternal flame.
even if we had something like that it would still be grindy, it doesn’t matter what way we look at this even if there was a massive element of skill involved it would still be a farmy/grindy experience.

It is sad that it comes down to how much Gold a player has or can accumulate, though it is also sad to look at it that only people who get lucky enough to find these items are able to craft the Legendary Weapons. I still strongly believe that the more effort/work you put into “anything” you should be rewarded more whether that in life or a game, it would be ridiculous to think the opposite.

I appreciate where you’re coming from saying that the content of that work shouldn’t be just farm farm farm, but as I said previously there is not really an easy solution to that, and more important this isn’t really the thread that you should be discussing it, I encourage you to make your own thread or support an existing one as I’m very sure there are tons of threads from players who think they know a better way for the Legendary Weapon journey.

When I created this thread the main thing I had in mind was that “IF” there is a drastic change to how you obtain a Legendary Weapon, or the Legendary Weapons precursor, I wanted to hear and put forward one of my own suggestions for separating the Legendary Weapons that were made PRE and POST this overhaul.

Now I know that I might be jumping the gun as they only briefly teased us with mention of a scavenger hunt experience for getting the “precursor” but let’s just say that they decide to overhaul the whole system, how can you not see that some separation between the two should exist, and rather than them do something radical like make them have different visuals/stats or player achievements, a simple “Antique” prefix was something I thought of that would allow the separation while not harming anyone else.

An analogy might help explain where I am coming from;

So, you go out and buy a chair, and this chair was £400, this chair was also a hell of an effort to put together as it came as 30 different parts with tons of screws etc. 1 Month later the company that sold you that chair is selling the same chair only as a 5 piece lift/click in place no screws required set, and only for £150. You would not only feel cheated, but want some compensation for the whole ordeal, even though you know, and everyone knows you are by no means entitled to it…

Anyway, might be a bad analogy but just think about it for a moment, I don’t believe that anyone wouldn’t feel upset. Apply that analogy to Legendary Weapon, especially the precursor, if people doing it POST this scavenger hunt or possible overhaul get the weapon much easier, its not nice to think all that time and money was wasted.

To Darkace

Just want to say thakittens not just about pinging it in LA, personally I’ve never linked it randomly or in map chat ever. The only time I’ve linked mine is when someone asks me “What is that glow” or “What weap is that”.

Me looking at the weapon and seeing that it says Antique would be reward enough for “me”, as a personal thing, I suggested it thinking that others might too.

Darkace you said “TC, ask yourself how much you really care to know if that random dude spamming up the /map chat in LA got his precursor pre- or post-scavenger hunt.”

Its worth drawing comparison with Achievements in any game be it MMO, Console games, Single Player games, why bother with achievements at all since no one cares looking at them or pinging them to 30+ people in the zone/lobby/room/match….
Its a personal thing, that’s why. Most people probably do achievements for themselves, I did all the jumping puzzle achievements because I wanted to, I feel happy that I’ve accomplished that completion, same with achievements in any game.

This can easily be translated to looking at my Legendary and seeing it as an Antique, and I think it makes sense anyway, its not like I’m asking it to say “Super awesome extreme mega ultra betterthanyour The Predator” that would be dumb.

Anywho I hope we can get some positive feedback and less hate on Legendary Weapons in general..

I understand you think you deserve to be distinguished from other players if you stacked up a ton of money and a few months later people manage to get it without farming money, but I’m sure that if they add a scavenger hunt it will require as big an effort as the legendaries there are now. So basically, it wouldn’t make your legendary worth more, but just ‘different’ (can discuss different in positive or negative way).

I’m not saying your idea is worthless, I just don’t see why it should be implemented if the scavenger hunt takes as long as the gold farm (and is at least as challenging).
Generally, thank you for the calm and rational discussion, but I don’t think the time for this topic has been breached yet.

Yeah, we all still know very little about the Scavenger Hunt and whether or not they’re looking at other areas of Legendary Weapon creation, however I wanted to put forward an idea and see what people think I’ve heard that from the side of people who don’t have a Legendary Weapon generally think it would be an unnecessary feature. For this discussion to become less biased it would be nice if we get some posts from people who have a Legendary Weapon, to see if they are for/against or even have a better alternative suggestion about anything we’ve discussed.

I mean this in no offensive way, but it is afterall only people who currently possess a Legendary Weapon this idea concerns. That being said all input has its value and I appreciate the posters opinions so far.

this idea reminds of when they updated the loremaster achievment in wow and didnt give any recognition to those who did it before cataclysm came out (it was super simplified after this).. annoyed me so much, enough that i hate this idea too :\

Rainzar.6905:

this idea reminds of when they updated the loremaster achievment in wow and didnt give any recognition to those who did it before cataclysm came out (it was super simplified after this).. annoyed me so much, enough that i hate this idea too :\

Wait so you hate what Blizzard did in WoW, which is very similar to what could happen with Legendary Weapons, or you hate the idea I’ve suggested that something should be done so that PRE and POST are in some subtle way recognizable?

I believe he is pointing at the first and he would like some recognition. ;p

I agree with your suggestion. A title or name should be given to you for getting the “legendary”¹ weapons when it was harder to do so. I just wonder if they’ll have to do this every time it gets easier. For example, in the future an expansion may be released that introduces tier 7 materials. Whatever drops tier 7 materials will probably drop them rarely, but drop T6 in abundance. The legendaries in existence now will become much easier to acquire in such a scenario. They could always bump up the recipes to T7, but I don’t want to be there for the outcry when someone who has collected 233 T6 materials is told, those are no longer good, get 250 T7 materials.

¹ – I scare quote legendary, because these weapons actually have no legends behind them, they just look pretty and require a lot of gold and effort. Looks and effort alone do not make a legend.

To SirMoogie

You make a good point. I Don’t know how it was in GW1, but they have mentioned about adding “more” legendary weapons to the game before, and of course the game expanding onto higher tier ingredients is definitely a possibility if not an inevitability. I think in general people need to stop taking the word “Legendary” so literally. To me I see Legendary Weapons as something that was supposed to be “Best in-slot items”, look good, be rare, and be hard to obtain, I’m not sure if when they named it Legendary they aimed for it to be the sort of thing only one or two people on the server had, and they were pretty much “Legends”, as in everyone on the server knew them and followed them around.

Anyway, yeah that’s a similar situation, about the next tier of legendary weapons and the first tier and the difficulty difference, to what could happen with the changes to Legendary Weapon creation at the moment.

The problem with those theories are semantics. You have to realize Guild Wars rarely introduces next “tier” items; rather, they introduce next generation items. New tier is going from exotic to ascended, and they already made it clear that current legendary items will be upgraded to ascended status when ascended weapons are introduced. I would not expect Arena.net with their progression philosophy to introduce new legends into the game that are in any way more powerful than the previous generation of legendaries. As for “tier 7 materials” I would also assume that they would rather release new materials with the same rarity and usefulness of the present highest tier of materials, or at the very most, a new place to acquire them. Arena.net has always been in favor of releasing sidegrades, not upgrades.

I think what we should prepare for in regards to the new generation of legendary items is a completely new way to acquire them, not a new set of materials to grind after.

I understand, where the OP is coming from. Getting your legendary pre scavenger hunt is tedious work. Let’s all agree, that no skill is involved, it’s all about farming and being patient. That’s not a bad thing, it’s just a fact.

But.

Why do you deserve anything more, than what you already got for that? You got your legendary. That’s, what you did it all for in the first place. Why give you anything else?

Same will be true for people who get their legendary through scavenger hunt. They worked for it – in a different and new way, but they worked for it. Why would they deserve anything else, than the legendary as their reward?

If it’s the legendary you want, you shouldn’t care about anything else, than the fact that you have it in the end. If it’s something else you want, it’s not anets job to give it to you

To Firefly

I can agree with that. Patience is the key word in all of this really.

However lets look at the flip side of all this. What if the new system of getting a Legendary Weapon involving a Scavenger Hunt type activity it much harder. Lets also say that after obtaining the Legendary weapon under this new system to gain a Title, a few achievements etc.

Would it be fair or unfair to automatically present players who already have a Legendary Weapon with this Title/Achievement.

On one side they did not do the activities required for the achievements, especially if they have them separate and they all pertain purely to obtaining the precursor. In my opinion in that case they do not deserve the title/achievements.

On the other side, during the journey to making a legendary weapon the players who have the Legendary Weapon “would’ve had to” or most certainly have done them rather than hoarding 500g to spend on the TP – what if they make precursors account bound…

With that in mind, if the Player does not deserve the above Title/Achievements for doing scavenger hunt and all of the new additional stuff to obtaining a Legendary Weapon (if there are more than just this Scavenger Hunt in the works) would it not be better to give them a different title, either on the weapon or as an achievement like the Original Post suggests.

Would be cool to hear your thoughts on those statements because I kind of feel on the fence a bit now.
I still think that there should be some way to distinguish the PRE and POST legendary weapons if the system changes dramatically.

Ovredon,

You make the mistake of comparing the hypothetical new legendaries to the current ones. The new weapons would not be an extension of the old ones, they would be a new generation of items with new achievements, or whatever is included. Someone already said it, but you have to realize that your reward for getting a legendary is just that – the legendary you built. That’s what was promised; that’s what you achieved. Why should you be entitled to anything more? Look at it from another perspective. If doing a scavenger hunt nets you a particular reward, why should you be similarly rewarded for not doing the scavenger hunt.

Let’s use a different example:

You do a dungeon and save for that dungeon’s reward armor, and buy the armor. A few months later, that same dungeon offers a new set of armor and achievement for completing the dungeon a specific way. Would you be entitled to that achievement because you already bought the first set of armor?

Ovredon.9471:

I personally think that the best and most harmless solution would be to give all existing legendary weapons that were made “PRE” the scavenger hunt patch a prefix on the weapon “Antique, for example “Antique Quip”, “Antique Twilight”

Someone played TF2.

To Piogre

Yeah I played a little bit of TF2 a while back but it was before whatever that “VINTAGE” thing is, was before the steam workshop stuff too if I recall.

To Gnat
I was mainly talking about the current legendary weapons pre and post this scavenger hunt.
The thing is Gnat with your dungeon set armour is that it’s not that good of an example, no offence. You’re talking about a completely different journey yielding a different armour set and saying that “I’m” saying I should be entitled to that new armor set and the achievements that go along with it.. No that is not what I’m saying, I’m not saying that if they bring new legendary weapons out that I’m instantly entitled to them, no.

Let me take a different approach to this…

Okay, how about this. People who have the Legendary Weapon before the scavenger hunt had a much more boring and time consuming experience with the current system of creating a Legendary Weapon.

Arenanet have teased us with the idea of revamping the journey to a Legendary Weapon, mostly with a better way of obtaining a precursor “with a more scavenger hunter feel to it”.

These changes could mean a variety of things including;
-Obtaining the Precursor Weapon for the Legendary Weapon takes longer and is less of a grind as you go around the world/dungeons collecting specific account bound items.
-Precursor Weapons could end up being Account Bound on Acquire.
-Precursor Weapons are much easier and quicker to obtain vs. farming gold in the 400g-600g regions in some cases.

The Precursor Weapon for a Legendary is a good portion of the Journey in my opinion and is quite often one of the major discouragements when people start to think about creating a Legendary Weapon.

Changing the above is kind of a big deal. In relation to your Armor example, I would be suggesting something similar if a full armour set suddenly only costed 300 tokens as opposed to the 1440 (approximately) it costs now – why shouldn’t there be some way to distinguish between the set that was purchased for 1440 tokens and the one for 300.

I’ve just got to say that this is beginning to feel very biased as I’ve brought this topic up with a few people now who have Legendary Weapons and of course they havn’t disagreed. What I fail to understand is why people without a Legendary Weapon are so concerned about this suggestion because all that I can see so far is spite.

Gnat you said “That’s what was promised; that’s what you achieved. Why should you be entitled to anything more”

Really?

So based on that statement, when they improve the stats/visuals on a Legendary Weapon I am not “entitled” to those changes, because I obtained mine before the changes therefore I have not earned them…. (Arenanet disagrees as they have updated visuals for legendaries twice now, and have stated they will continue to do so and keep them on-par stat wise with any other items that come out)

That’s not what I’m saying, obviously you should have your legendary buffed with everyone else’s. I just don’t see why you think a prefix is necessary.

The basic fact remains that you got what you paid for. You knew what you were getting when you built it, I don’t think you should be distinguished for doing something the way it was intended to be done. This statement is in regards solely to the name change, not any changes statistically. Of course you should have your weapon buffed with the others.

My main point about the armor example was actually in agreement to your topic of achievements/titles involving a scavenger hunt. I think any achievements based on the hunt should be separate from what already exists. I think any new method of obtaining a legendary should get no distinction from the current way of getting a legendary, achievements or otherwise, for the simple fact that the weapon is your reward. No retrospect achievement is deserved if you didn’t do the work. Maybe a different achievement for having the legendary pre-hunt, but a prefix for the name? Certainly not.

I do believe that precursors should be made account bound though, as well. I also think that there needs to be a threshold to how difficult they are planning to make the scavenger hunt. If it’s too easy there will be community wide outrage, and demands of retro-pay to players with a legendary already, even though it’s not deserved (for the above reason, you were rewarded for what the work required at the time). If it’s much more difficult or much more simple, I think an entire new generation of skins will be necessary to quell the community’s disapproval of having their weapon “given away” to players doing the hypothetically simple scavenger hunt.

Precursor weapons should be account bound yes, and hopefully that is something they’re working toward…

I think that the best solution in that topic is to make Precursor Weapons obtained through Scavenger Hunt account bound, but bind on use Precursor Weapons can still be found in the world / mystic forge. That way players wont be forced to do the scavenger hunt and prices wont drop too much that they’re worthless, but definitely not 250g+

I do appreciate where you’re coming from that I got what I payed for. But in all honesty the system should never have needed to be changed in the first place. Its obvious at first glance when you first decide to look at making a Legendary Weapon that the whole experience is going to be grind, farm and spend lots of time/effort doing so. We should be asking ourselves why the devs – no offence devs – didn’t realise this, and again I appreciate they need to take measures to add longevity to the game and make sure that something like Legendary Weapons aren’t easy goals, but like so many people have said having a more challenging experience, a more engaging experience and a more “Scavenger Hunt” experience is kind of a no-brainer and I don’t understand why it wasn’t there from the start.

To summarise this situation shouldn’t have really occurred in the first place, its obvious that players would not be engaged and challenged while making a legendary, don’t you think?

I agree, the legendary creation is a lazy process in terms of development. It seems like they took every aspect the game and violently shoved it in the player’s face until they were done grinding. They even said themselves that players reached their legendaries too quickly, yet I don’t understand how this wasn’t anticipated.

The quest to build a legendary is the most tedious endeavor in GW2, and rightfully so. It is essentially the end-game mission, yet it offers no benefit above the others. And this is fine, I have always been in favor of ANet’s view toward item progression, although the struggle to get a legendary is currently overwhelming for most players. I’m not simply complaining because I don’t have one, it’s quite the opposite. I don’t want one because of the required resources and the use I can put to those resources elsewhere. But I digress – the creation of a legendary weapon should be an epic undergoing, not a tedious chore. Having said that, I new acquisition system for a legendary should be implemented. Something along the lines of a legendary personal story quest, along with some aspects of the current system. SOME. The map completion was a good requirement, as was the use of a precursor, though it derailed quickly.

Here’s a few things I’d like to see incorporated in legendary ‘quest’

*Epic personal story quest that leads to the acquisition of a SOULBOUND precursor weapon that the profession completing the quest can wield.

*Rare items that must be collected by each world boss in Tyria.

*Items collected from each dungeon in Tyria.

*Items collected from Jumping puzzles/hidden zones throughout the map.

*Items received from completing temple events in Orr.
These are some of the things I’d love to actually work toward to achieve a legendary. I’m sure other players/ANet can invent some awesome new ideas for getting legendaries.

Item appearance (history/item lore/visuals) – Personally, the most lost potential in GW2 is the lack of connection to the original game by anything other than an altered map and some enemies. One area that offers the most potential for GW1 integration is the legendary items being pieces of GW1 history. The Flameseeker Prophecies is the coolest legendary for many reasons, my favorite being the fact that it’s the freakin’ Flameseeker Prophecies!! I mean dang!
Other legendaries that would be great to see in game:

*Notable items from various missions in GW1 (Mouthpiece to the horn of Rin for a warhorn, piece of the vizier’s staff, Ghostly Hero’s sword, etc)

*Pieces of the landscape from GW1 that can be forged into weapons (Shard of the Searing Crystal, for example.)

*Other miscellaneous pieces of GW history made into weapons (Dhuum’s Soul Reaper, Eternal Blade, Obsidian Blade, branch of Urgoz, something from the Domain of Anguish, various Old God artifacts).

And of course, the Ogre-Slaying Knife

These are a few examples of the many possibilities available to the Anet team to implement new legendaries and allow players to hardcore nostalgia about their favorite GW moments.