Guild Wars 2

Just wanted to expand on what afterlife just posted.

The good: Ascended items give players something to reach for, a reason to keep playing. Things that are hard to get are rewarding.

The bad: The fundamentals of what this game used to be was that you could play your character the way you wanted to.

If you wanted to WVW, you could do nothing but WVW and eventually be as strong as anyone. If you wanted to do dungeons, you could do nothing but dungeons and eventually be as strong as anyone. You didn’t have to waste your time doing things you didn’t want to do.

Now this has all changed. Personally I enjoy WvW the most. I could WvW everyday for a YEAR! and not be even close to having the gold or materials to get ascended.

The solution: Anet think about what items are universal to every game type.
1. laurels
2. skill points
3. mystic coins

Yes ascended items should be hard to get, yes ascended items should be time gated. But don’t force players to do things they don’t want to do to get them. Don’t turn this game into a boring grindfest.