Guild Wars 2

My guess is that the tower will be an open world PvE instance where you can not only get ascended armor as a reward (similar to weapon chests), but where you need a fair amount of good armor as well to survive – giving you an incentive to craft ascended armor. And where you need some good (read: ascended) weapons to take the bosses down. A tough place, perhaps comparable to the UW of GW1.

i hope you are right, but i’m not holding my breath…

You can see what appears to be a portal in the release video.
And ascended armor chest preview codes were released simultaneous with ascended armor preview codes; you just have to change a letter here and there. I just couldn’t work out where they would drop. This place, or portal to a place, seems plausible to me.

There’s literally nothing in the ToN trailer to get hyped about. No hints that’s it’s a dungeon, or that there will be ascended armor as a drop. It can be anything. It can be 15 seconds long story instance, like the recent one with Bloody Prince.

Buttercup.5871:

My guess is that the tower will be an open world PvE instance where you can not only get ascended armor as a reward (similar to weapon chests), but where you need a fair amount of good armor as well to survive – giving you an incentive to craft ascended armor. And where you need some good (read: ascended) weapons to take the bosses down. A tough place, perhaps comparable to the UW of GW1.

the thing is….there is like a 2% increase in dps for each ascended item?

if you can’t make up for the lack of dps with skill….your playing gw2 wrong

I’m unsure whether those are the final values, given that all ascended armor (zerker, carrion etc) have the same stats in the preview codes. Additionally, isn’t that what they said about ascended weapons, when in practice these turned out to be a lot more powerful than a 5 percent overall damage increase?

Edit: even if it “only” adds another 12 percent (2% times 6 armor pieces) on top of the other ascended bonuses, this brings you to roughly a 30 percent increase in DPS on damage oriented builds – versus the exotic variants of the same gear.

Buttercup.5871:

Edit: even if it “only” adds another 12 percent (2% times 6 armor pieces) on top of the other ascended bonuses, this brings you to roughly a 30 percent increase in DPS on damage oriented builds – versus the exotic variants of the same gear.

You’re counting it wrong : 2% on a piece doesn’t add up. If it’s a 2% increase, it will be a 2% overall. Which is a bit much but manageable for me (i’d rather have no stat increase, just infusion slots).

Vanthian.9267:

I will be looking at a Thief with a backstab damage build.
20/30/0/0/20

Traits to consider in damage calculation:
Dagger Trainger: 5% damage
Executioner: 20% damage below 50% health
Flanking Strikes: 5% damage when attacking from back/sides

Constants:
Light Armor: 1836 (no added toughness what so ever)
Medium Armor: 1980 (no added toughness what so ever)
Heavy Armor: 2127 (no added toughness what so ever)
Skill Coefficient: 1.2 if hit from the front
2.4 if hit from the back/side

Exotics:
When using all berserker and all ruby orbs and a completely damage build for Thief:

Weapon Damage: 924-981
Power: 2089 without food buffs or bloodlust or might
3156 with food buffs and 25 might but without bloodlust
Critical Chance: 63.24 without fury or food buffs
66.57 with food buffs without fury
Critical Damage: 86%

Standard Damage of Backstab on target without Critical hit: (all will assume max Weapon damage/Skill Coefficient)

Light Armor: No Food Buffs/Might/Bloodlust
Damage: ( 981 × 2089 × 2.4 ) / 1836 = 2,678.835
With Food Buffs/Might but NO BLOODLUST
Damage: ( 981 × 3156 × 2.4 ) / 1836 = 4,047.105

What if we critical? Critical Damage is +86% on the normal 150% so we have 236% damage. Without buffs would be…
2,678.835 × 236% = 6,322.051
With Fodd buffs and such…
4,047.105 × 236% = 9,551.168

ASCENDED

Same set up only with ascended trinkets, back, ring, amulet and weapon.

Weapon Damage: 970-1030
Power: 2309 without food buffs or bloodlust or might
3376 with food buffs and 25 might but without bloodlust
Critical Chance: 69.24 without fury or food buffs
72.57 with food buffs without fury
Critical Damage: 112%

Standard Damage of Backstab on target without Critical hit: (all will assume max Weapon damage/Skill Coefficient)

Light Armor: No Food Buffs/Might/Bloodlust
Damage: ( 1,030 × 2,309 × 2.4 ) / 1836 = 3,108.849
With Food Buffs/Might but NO BLOODLUST
Damage: ( 1,030 × 3,376 × 2.4 ) / 1836 = 4,545.464

What if we critical? Critical Damage is +112% on the normal 150% so we have 262% damage. Without buffs would be…
3,108.849 × 262% = 8,145.184
With Fodd buffs and such…
4,545.464 × 262% = 11,909.115

Comparing the two:
Exotic with buffs & critical: 9,551.168
Ascended with buffs & Critical: 11,909.115

Percentage damage higher? 9,551.168/11,090.115 = 0.861
Then 1 – 0.861 = 0.139 which is…..

13.9% difference in damage when buffed and landing a critical hit on a light armor target with no extra defense when welding currently available Ascended items over Exotics.

Also, please note I did not take into account the trait damage multipliers since they are the same with or without Ascended gear.

You can follow the above to figure out any of the other armors types or whatever you choose. I also done this very quickly so my numbers might be a little off, but I do believe them to be accurate.

Have fun!

took this from another thread

TL;DR – My Brain Hurtz – Important Part:

Comparing the two:
Exotic with buffs & critical: 9,551.168
Ascended with buffs & Critical: 11,909.115

Percentage damage higher? 9,551.168/11,090.115 = 0.861
Then 1 – 0.861 = 0.139 which is

13.9% difference in damage when buffed and landing a critical hit on a light armor target with no extra defense when welding currently available Ascended items over Exotics.

if that person has a higher ping, slower internet, slower computer, slower fps, doesn’t know proper skill rotation, isn’t traited right….then that overall dps increase starts taking a hit

though if that person was in full exotics, he is probably performing less than being in exotics in the first place, thus me being glad he is in ascended gear

also….all current end game is balanced around rares…so if anything, if they were to increase the difficulty, they would balance it around exotics first

Just.. no.
This is what you want to happen, not what is going to happen. As the Living Story is generally adressed to everyone there probably will never be a hardcore-only content patch. Also they would definitely tell us about ascended armor crafting (which will be the main means to get it) beforehand ATLEAST in the release page.

Shadowsong.4820:

Just.. no.
This is what you want to happen, not what is going to happen. As the Living Story is generally adressed to everyone there probably will never be a hardcore-only content patch. Also they would definitely tell us about ascended armor crafting (which will be the main means to get it) beforehand ATLEAST in the release page.

^This

Something as major as ascended would likely be teased.

With the minimal difference between ascended and exotic, I can’t imagine how they would make the BiS gear meaningful in a new instance unless it included agony…which will really cause rage if they don’t also add a new way to get the AR infusions.

That said, I would love a GW2 instance comparable to UW, FoW, DoA, Deep, Urgoz, etc. That’d make my year.

Vick.6805:

With the minimal difference between ascended and exotic, I can’t imagine how they would make the BiS gear meaningful in a new instance unless it included agony…which will really cause rage if they don’t also add a new way to get the AR infusions.

That said, I would love a GW2 instance comparable to UW, FoW, DoA, Deep, Urgoz, etc. That’d make my year.

No big hopes for that. Everything else than 1-shot-everyone attacks and hundreds of red circles to dodge from seems too complicated to implement in current PvE.
UW, Urgoz, Fissure of Woe? Kidding me, right? If there wouldn’t be any shiny backpiece guaranteed after run and bosses which require you to think or change skills…woah, we’re getting into Dream of Dreams!

Rym.1469:

Vick.6805:

With the minimal difference between ascended and exotic, I can’t imagine how they would make the BiS gear meaningful in a new instance unless it included agony…which will really cause rage if they don’t also add a new way to get the AR infusions.

That said, I would love a GW2 instance comparable to UW, FoW, DoA, Deep, Urgoz, etc. That’d make my year.

No big hopes for that. Everything else than 1-shot-everyone attacks and hundreds of red circles to dodge from seems too complicated to implement in current PvE.
UW, Urgoz, Fissure of Woe? Kidding me, right? If there wouldn’t be any shiny backpiece guaranteed after run and bosses which require you to think or change skills…woah, we’re getting into Dream of Dreams!

I know… sigh still trying to hold out hope that GW2 eventually becomes what everyone hoped for. #foreverdisappointed. Just trying to maintain some semblance of optimism.

With the 1-hit KO mechanics and constant stun-locks, you may as well do the content naked. Oh, and you forgot to mention boss AoE circles that don’t accurately represent the skill’s effect area. Those are ‘fun’, too.

wasted.6817:

There’s literally nothing in the ToN trailer to get hyped about. No hints that’s it’s a dungeon, or that there will be ascended armor as a drop. It can be anything. It can be 15 seconds long story instance, like the recent one with Bloody Prince.

Actually it’s what’s making he hope it’ll be something good. Last time a release page had as little info about what was going to be added as this one was Queen’s Speech (which turned out to be Clockwork Chaos), so I do believe there’s much more about this patch they’re not revealing yet.

Vick.6805:

I know… sigh still trying to hold out hope that GW2 eventually becomes what everyone hoped for. #foreverdisappointed. Just trying to maintain some semblance of optimism.

I certainly didn’t hope for a PvE instance/raid progression game. There are plenty of titles offering that though, maybe one of those is more to your liking ?

Guild Wars 2 has fully shifted over to the daily grind and time gate model. Gone is the idea that you do challenging content and get rewarded for it, gone is the idea that games should put fun first, gone is the idea that a game doesn’t need grind and time gates for your time to be meaningful.

They won’t give you ascended gear as a reward for the tower, at least not in any form other than the crazy low RNG chances everything else has. Tequatl has crap drop rates on ascended gear, this will too.

Shiren.9532:

They won’t give you ascended gear as a reward for the tower, at least not in any form other than the crazy low RNG chances everything else has. Tequatl has crap drop rates on ascended gear, this will too.

Haha I had no illusion that I would actually get a chest drop myself. But I do think these babies will soon drop:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zojja%27s_Armor_Chest

Might as well be in a fancy new dungeon. We can only hope

Shadowsong.4820:

Just.. no.
This is what you want to happen, not what is going to happen. As the Living Story is generally adressed to everyone there probably will never be a hardcore-only content patch. Also they would definitely tell us about ascended armor crafting (which will be the main means to get it) beforehand ATLEAST in the release page.

New Aetherpath was certainly not for everyone.

I don’t think most of players in GW2 ready for UW version because too many casuals here. They will die and moans on the forums

blurps.2340:

Vick.6805:

I know… sigh still trying to hold out hope that GW2 eventually becomes what everyone hoped for. #foreverdisappointed. Just trying to maintain some semblance of optimism.

I certainly didn’t hope for a PvE instance/raid progression game. There are plenty of titles offering that though, maybe one of those is more to your liking ?

Obviously you’re not familiar with the end-game instances from GW.

Feel free to actually familiarize yourself with them before making assumptions about what I’m talking about.

The instances I mentioned were neither a form of progression, nor were they “raids” in any typical MMO sense (besides Deep and Urgoz having larger parties). They were instanced PvE content similar to dungeons, but with far more interesting mechanics.

Vick.6805:

blurps.2340:

Vick.6805:

I know… sigh still trying to hold out hope that GW2 eventually becomes what everyone hoped for. #foreverdisappointed. Just trying to maintain some semblance of optimism.

I certainly didn’t hope for a PvE instance/raid progression game. There are plenty of titles offering that though, maybe one of those is more to your liking ?

Obviously you’re not familiar with the end-game instances from GW.

Feel free to actually familiarize yourself with them before making assumptions about what I’m talking about.

The instances I mentioned were neither a form of progression, nor were they “raids” in any typical MMO sense (besides Deep and Urgoz having larger parties). They were instanced PvE content similar to dungeons, but with far more interesting mechanics.

While the mechanics were interesting, the cheese was/is still present in many of the end-game GW (both 1 and 2) dungeons.

In that regard, they are both very similar. The main difference, to me, is that GW2 is more casual in the implementation. If you take the time to sit down and play the game instead of cheesing through something for a reward (not saying that you do), then you might see some interesting mechanics in dungeons that you’ve done again and again.

In regards to Jordi’s talk about damage, you shouldn’t compare pure gear with food + nourishment + might. The might overkills your generalization because, to me, you’re either always going to have 25 stacks or you’re going to sit at around 1-10. If you’re doing a statistical analysis, you shouldn’t put such a large gap between the control group and the variable group. It’s like comparing auto attacks to other weapon skills and wondering why most auto attacks don’t have very high pure damage amounts.

Additionally, you’re talking about food/boons when in a conversation about the rarity increase from exotic to ascended. Going off the differences in the wiki which has a very logical estimation for the numeric values of Ascended gear, you can note that the difference between wearing a full armorset of Exotic vs Ascended is a grand total of 39 stat points (spread between 3 stats in a 17/11/11 split, assuming you’re not running something like Critical Damage).

Of course, considering where the PvE meta lies, you’re only going to get something along the lines of a 17/11/6% (don’t quote me on the 6% critical damage, as that’s entirely speculation on my part with no grounds for reasoning). Keep in mind that those numbers are a grand total for all the armor piece differences combined (yes, the redundancy is necessary as most people will still interpret it wrong).

So assuming you’re a player that

has a higher ping, slower internet, slower computer, slower fps, doesn’t know proper skill rotation, isn’t traited right

I don’t quite think that those 39 stat points are going to make a noticeable difference. I mean, if they knew they had many downfalls and decided to run Sentinel’s in PvE, even then they’d only have a bonus 170 health, 11 Power and 11 Armor. That’s not going to make a difference in PvE.

Buttercup.5871:

I’m unsure whether those are the final values, given that all ascended armor (zerker, carrion etc) have the same stats in the preview codes. Additionally, isn’t that what they said about ascended weapons, when in practice these turned out to be a lot more powerful than a 5 percent overall damage increase?

Edit: even if it “only” adds another 12 percent (2% times 6 armor pieces) on top of the other ascended bonuses, this brings you to roughly a 30 percent increase in DPS on damage oriented builds – versus the exotic variants of the same gear.

y u no math

The thing people don’t seem to get about ascended stuff is that it’s meant to give you more ar and therefore unlock higher fractal levels which provide a higher difficulty and better loot. It never was about the stat increase.
The sad thing is that Anet hasn’t redesigned the higher fractals and removed the hardcap to actually give use to the new highest ar.