Guild Wars 2

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

kudos to the post. couldn’t have said it any better than this

daros.3407:

And the fact that people voted for it as second most important topic to talk about in PVE speaks for fact that there are many unsatisfied people. Even with fact that people usualy come to forum if they are unsatisfied.
I found it

FYI if we go with the next topics from the initial call for topics threads (Global) then they are as follows:

PVE: Ascended Gear
PvP: Rewards and Progression
WvW: Skill Lag

These are all pretty focused topics which means we will be able to enter into the discussions more readily in terms of time. The bigger the topic the more divergent the discussions and this makes it harder for us to give them our full attention.

Chris

Now there runs WvW topic about about comander system, becouse they thought WvW topic had less developer atention and discussion about skill lag cant change anything now becouse it is more complicated problem, as far as i know. After it Ascended discussion should came if there will be PVE and PVP discussion at same time.

Well actually the number one PvE issue was the 2 week pace of content updates. But they said that was non-negotiable and moved onto the second most asked for thing.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

daros.3407:

And the fact that people voted for it as second most important topic to talk about in PVE speaks for fact that there are many unsatisfied people. Even with fact that people usualy come to forum if they are unsatisfied.
I found it

FYI if we go with the next topics from the initial call for topics threads (Global) then they are as follows:

PVE: Ascended Gear
PvP: Rewards and Progression
WvW: Skill Lag

These are all pretty focused topics which means we will be able to enter into the discussions more readily in terms of time. The bigger the topic the more divergent the discussions and this makes it harder for us to give them our full attention.

Chris

Now there runs WvW topic about about comander system, becouse they thought WvW topic had less developer atention and discussion about skill lag cant change anything now becouse it is more complicated problem, as far as i know. After it Ascended discussion should came if there will be PVE and PVP discussion at same time.

Well actually the number one PvE issue was the 2 week pace of content updates. But they said that was non-negotiable and moved onto the second most asked for thing.

Not sure exactly wat dou you want to say. I was referring to second most wanted. 2 week pace of content was discussed in a first living world topic. But they really said it is something they dont want to change.

Few people is happy with ascended, a vast majority is against them and anyone can notice it looking for the top voted comments here or in any forum. But Arenanet doesn’t care about this topic, because ascended = people grinding = profit.

If not, why did they tell us about being collaborative, promoting chats amongst devs and players, etc… but for every topic except this?

Polymock? Bar Brawl? an end-game only visual-grind based? Where are all the promises they made to us before release? They have been fooling us all this time, changing fun for boring chores. This is not the game I was advertised and I will never get tired of say it.

Would have loved a way to quest current exotic gear into ascended variety, much like the Mursaat Infusions from GW1.

Crafting was perhaps the second-last alternative I would have preferred. Expensive Crafting being the last…

I will craft it. Its not as if there are better things to spend the resources on.

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Swagger.1459:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Wouldn’t Laurels make it even more time-gated?

I’m not a fan of time gating, but the point of that post was to show that it’s not hard to provide other options for ascended gear acquisition.

Y know i prefer time gating by itself (like those celestials) than time gating and gold/heavy resource gating as well as making you go through many aspects of the game you dont want. And please dont call that simply playing the game. i like dungeon running over running around in world zergs, im still playing the game as well.

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Swagger.1459:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Wouldn’t Laurels make it even more time-gated?

Yes it would but it would also make it much less grindy and time consuming for people that dont play 5+ per day. And laurels are obtainable from many sources of game but don’t necessarily force to do everything in game.
Anyway it is not only laurels that could be another source of ascended weapons and armor. Badges of honor, guild comendations, fractal relics or combination of those. Even dungeon tokens could serve well here.

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

I completely agree with you and wish that more people would see it that way. I will eventually get full sets for my characters but I am in no rush nor do I plan to spend all my gold on the crafting like I did with the ascended weapons. And still, it was a different situation, I rushed the weapon crafting because it was granting access to the higher level fractals and I wanted the white weapon skins. Now there is no need for that as I made it back to 50 with my current AR.

In the end, creating a full set of ascended armor is a perfect long term goal, especially for people with one or several legendaries looking for something new. Especially when more legendaries mean more gifts of exploration (the horrors). And all this can be done without mindless champion farming. But if people are impatient and expose themselves to the champ farm while hating it, this is their problem.

And finally, for everyone hating on the armor and weapon look: yes most is very unpleasant for the eyes. That’s why we have transmutation stones. People have already said it but this is done on purpose so that the entire playerbase won’t end up looking the same.

As for the people lamenting on the loss of their hard earned exotics: there is nothing hard about getting exotic weapons, armors, trinkets etc. If you percieve that as hard then you are difinitely not the target population for the ascended items and you most likely don’t even need them.

Iason Evan.3806:

Zietlogik.6208:

With it arriving on the 10th, how many people are happy about this new (I am assuming) grind?

I don’t get why you call it a grind. We have known this was coming for months. Even if you just took 2 days a week to go get ori on all your characters, there wouldn’t be a grind. Sure, we all will have to get the new time gated stuff, but if you just do it as you play you won’t notice it at all.

It’s called grind, because it is a grind. The fact that we know it’s coming doesn’t suddenly change that fact. And good luck getting by with “only” two days per week farming for cloth and leather. Especially if you happen to not play 8 hours a day, every day (so, in case you are a normal player).

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I do not miss that point, i simply disagree with the mindset behind it.

Mireles Lore.5942:

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression

It’s too long for the vast majority of the players. Yes, the top 1% can do it relatively easy, and few more percents can slowly grind through it. Everyone else however will still be gearing up when next wave of Vertical Progression will hit. Assuming they just don’t give up on this first.

Mireles Lore.5942:

infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics.

Yes, that is a problem in a game marketed as a place where no such thing were to exist.

Mireles Lore.5942:

The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

Enforce, not encourage. And that sends completely different message to players.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

There should have to be no gate at all (or at least one very easily passed). But if they really needed to make those gates (in direct conflict with original vision of this game), then they should have went with alternate methods of acquisition, each put behind a separate gate. So, you could get ascended gear with a time sink, gold sink, with effort, or skill. It should not require all of it (well, most. Skill got completely ignored).

Bad design is bad design, no matter how much you want to defend it.

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

Long term goal is well and good (but personally, I think ascended is too far up the scale on ‘long term’, it could definitely be easier to get and still be a long term goal) but why gate content behind this “long term goal”? If you’re running fractals, you’ll NEED this armor once the cap goes up.

My friends that barely play the game can’t do high level fractals with my group anymore because agony is such a killer now. Hell, I can’t even do 40 because I haven’t gotten around to grinding for ascended weapon crafting.

lordkrall.7241:

I will get them when I get them.
They don’t make enough difference for them to be required, so I won’t rush getting them.

This should be more or less the case for most people. You can play the game just fine with Exotic Gear, Fractals notwithstanding.

I hope I’ve accrued enough materials to almost complete, if not fully complete, all armour crafting lines well before this announcement so, I’m kind of looking forward to it coming, and being able to finish maxing out my favourite alts’ gearsets.

I was never really much of a fan of Ascended gear when it was announced and released last year, however, I think they’ve done a good job in its acquisition, and kept the increase in stats fairly minimal such that it’s really not a requirement (even though I’m sure many dungeon groups after this update will be “Ascended [Warriors] Only”), but does give those players who want a further tier of gear something to aim for.

Players seem to like calling Ascended gear a grind. The OP makes reference to this. I guess, levelling a craft from 400 to 500 could be seen as a grind, but on balance I think the cost in doing so is reasonable for the status of the gear you can craft. Related to this, I see people often complaining “200 gold for one weapon no thanks!”. 200 Gold being the price people like to quote as how much it costs to level a craft. Once the craft is levelled, however, that’s it…you can make as many items as you want, and they’re really not all that costly; not in my view.

Astralporing.1957:

Mireles Lore.5942:

The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

Enforce, not encourage. And that sends completely different message to players.

Empyreal Fragments can be obtained from easier WvW goals, open world chests and dungeons.
Dragonite can be obtained from harder WvW goals, world bosses, and more recently the Tower of Nightmares.

Those are both a reasonable spread of acquisition methods.

I consider Ascended items to be like “Mini Legendaries”. I don’t see any problem having players complete many and various different activities in order to acquire the components for them. As for Crafting professions being used instead of such as the Mystic Forge…well at least it’s a sure way of acquiring them instead of RNG. I don’t mind the crafting of it.

I am, however, getting very bored of hearing people say “ArenaNet said I could ‘play my way’ yet they’re making me craft for Ascended items and I don’t like crafting”. Puh-lease. Can I say “I want to be able to craft my way up the PvP rank ladder because I don’t like PvP”? Didn’t think so.

Couple quick thoughts, IMHO.

1. I don’t think this is the end of the grind. I look forward to ascended level food, runes, sigils, different paths for ascended jewelry/trinkets/backpieces, etc. and who really knows what else.

2. This ascended armor is coming out next week, so the prices of all kinds of things are going quite insane, and economic instability will be the norm through Christmas. We haven’t recovered from the instability of ascended weapons yet, so this will just be churning the pot a bit more.

3. Over time, 3 things will happen; first, with Christmas, people will buy the game, and level toons, realize you can make a lot of money with harvesting lower level mats and salvaging, helping stabilize the market in the short term. Next, the early adopters who NEED to have ascended crafting up to 500 and all ascended gear will acquire it, slowing the pressure on the market prices. And within 4 months, grinding adjustments will stabilize prices even more, albeit with a handsome bit of inflation thrown in, to keep those bodies moving.

4. Gem prices are going to be hilarious between this and Christmas. If I were a gambling man….

5. There is some “gating” of content based on gear in the fractal progression, however, 45 AR was possible before the ascended weapon patch, and definitely before the Fractured patch, and now you can get to 55 with a healthy bit of grind, and even to 70AR if you really, really want. Ascended armor will just make this easier over time.

These ascended items give people a chance to work toward something, to invest, to look at the game as a whole and decide some long term goals and set some short-to-mid-term rituals to help them get there. The point isn’t to GET IT ALL NAO! It’s to encourage people to come back and meet their goals over time, while enjoying the content as they like.

Anet bends over backwards to make sure that everyone who plays casually gets a chance to experience as much of the content as they like, and has been trying to ensure more hardcore players are met with challenges, whether that’s mistlock instabilities or gear upgrades, or new places to do mass PvP. Ascended crafting is just another one of those, and I welcome the opportunity to make a LOT of gold off those guys.

Swagger.1459:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Yeah they could have it use laurels, but without a time gate, having it bought with laurels will make the crafting method effectively useless which is why you will never see another direct method happen. Laurels are a currency which exists that is not end game and is not suitable for ascended armor as an end game goal.

Laurel system has no time gate for players like me that have been playing regularly since the start are sitting on almost if not more than 200 laurels and loads of t7 mats, we would most likely have the armor the first day. And instantly be bored again.

Laurel system, will make the current reward system to obtain ascended effectively mute, as people no longer need to earn materials to craft, as it would defeat the purpose to have a laurel vendor require all the mats without the crafting. It doesn’t encourage people to venture outside their comfort zone into other areas of the game.

Just because you don’t like the way something or the way it was implemented doesn’t mean its poor, in my opinion it was a genius way to get players out in all areas of the game working toward a new goal. And it also put some value into having a crafting profession. Don’t like to craft? Don’t do it, they made the increase negligible for a reason.

JohnnySupernova.9182:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

Long term goal is well and good (but personally, I think ascended is too far up the scale on ‘long term’, it could definitely be easier to get and still be a long term goal) but why gate content behind this “long term goal”? If you’re running fractals, you’ll NEED this armor once the cap goes up.

My friends that barely play the game can’t do high level fractals with my group anymore because agony is such a killer now. Hell, I can’t even do 40 because I haven’t gotten around to grinding for ascended weapon crafting.

LOL you need this armor for fractals? I did not realize all those people that have already hit the level 50 fractals have ascended armor before its out! Its funny to watch people bend over backwards to try to make an argument make since.

You can get as much AR as you need from fractals with rings, accessories, and back peices, especially with the new AR infusions.

Astralporing.1957:

Iason Evan.3806:

Zietlogik.6208:

With it arriving on the 10th, how many people are happy about this new (I am assuming) grind?

I don’t get why you call it a grind. We have known this was coming for months. Even if you just took 2 days a week to go get ori on all your characters, there wouldn’t be a grind. Sure, we all will have to get the new time gated stuff, but if you just do it as you play you won’t notice it at all.

It’s called grind, because it is a grind. The fact that we know it’s coming doesn’t suddenly change that fact. And good luck getting by with “only” two days per week farming for cloth and leather. Especially if you happen to not play 8 hours a day, every day (so, in case you are a normal player).

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I do not miss that point, i simply disagree with the mindset behind it.

Mireles Lore.5942:

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression

It’s too long for the vast majority of the players. Yes, the top 1% can do it relatively easy, and few more percents can slowly grind through it. Everyone else however will still be gearing up when next wave of Vertical Progression will hit. Assuming they just don’t give up on this first.

Mireles Lore.5942:

infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics.

Yes, that is a problem in a game marketed as a place where no such thing were to exist.

Mireles Lore.5942:

The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

Enforce, not encourage. And that sends completely different message to players.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

There should have to be no gate at all (or at least one very easily passed). But if they really needed to make those gates (in direct conflict with original vision of this game), then they should have went with alternate methods of acquisition, each put behind a separate gate. So, you could get ascended gear with a time sink, gold sink, with effort, or skill. It should not require all of it (well, most. Skill got completely ignored).

Bad design is bad design, no matter how much you want to defend it.

Why don’t we make everything obtainable in a matter of hours and hand max armor to new people that just start the game? Because you know there should be no gates at all and having to actually perform for stuff goes against the original idea of the game of not having gear progression. Gawd forbid you have to actually play the game to get stuff.

Mireles Lore.5942:

JohnnySupernova.9182:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

Long term goal is well and good (but personally, I think ascended is too far up the scale on ‘long term’, it could definitely be easier to get and still be a long term goal) but why gate content behind this “long term goal”? If you’re running fractals, you’ll NEED this armor once the cap goes up.

My friends that barely play the game can’t do high level fractals with my group anymore because agony is such a killer now. Hell, I can’t even do 40 because I haven’t gotten around to grinding for ascended weapon crafting.

LOL you need this armor for fractals? I did not realize all those people that have already hit the level 50 fractals have ascended armor before its out! Its funny to watch people bend over backwards to try to make an argument make since.

You can get as much AR as you need from fractals with rings, accessories, and back peices, especially with the new AR infusions.

just putting this out there, it’s cheaper to craft ascended armor than the infusions at a point.

And on another note, the time gating per account is really frustrating when you have alts you actively use.

Mireles Lore.5942:

JohnnySupernova.9182:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

Long term goal is well and good (but personally, I think ascended is too far up the scale on ‘long term’, it could definitely be easier to get and still be a long term goal) but why gate content behind this “long term goal”? If you’re running fractals, you’ll NEED this armor once the cap goes up.

My friends that barely play the game can’t do high level fractals with my group anymore because agony is such a killer now. Hell, I can’t even do 40 because I haven’t gotten around to grinding for ascended weapon crafting.

LOL you need this armor for fractals? I did not realize all those people that have already hit the level 50 fractals have ascended armor before its out! Its funny to watch people bend over backwards to try to make an argument make since.

You can get as much AR as you need from fractals with rings, accessories, and back peices, especially with the new AR infusions.

No you are wrong. They will add more fractal levels so much more then 55ar will be needed. New AR slots will not be able to cover it becouse how long it takes to get at least 6 ar from it. If you are normal player and dont spend 8 hour per day in fractal. Even ascended armor crafting will be more productive for you then farming ar infusions.
Ascended armor will be needed for fractals as same as weapons are now.

Mireles Lore.5942:

JohnnySupernova.9182:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

It provides an LONG TERM end game goal related to character progression, infact is the only end game goal that offers a stat progression instead of aesthetics. The materials needed to get it encourages play throughout all areas of the game.

The 3 ascended materials for obsidian refinement you can earn doing world bosses, dungeons, fractals, world vrs world, and killing champs/opening chests any where in the open world.

Having max crafting, something that most of use used throughout our leveling process now offers a continuation for end game. They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

Materials of all tiers that would have to be gathered in all areas of open world, in world vrs world, or via gold through your favorite income producing activities. Even salvaged from items.

It is a grind only if you make it a grind, if you must have it ASAP and the only means you find acceptable to obtain that is the fastest most tedious way possible, and that bothers you, that is not the game’s fault, that is your fault. You are in no way forced to grind out gold and materials in a champ farm or any of the popular farms, nor are you gated from any content from not having ascended weapons and armor.

I for one certainly don’t plan on focusing on obtaining my armor in the first week or even the first month, as I am a die hard anti-farm player. Having already done 3 weapons, I know ascended armor will eventually fall in my lap if I just participate in multiple areas of the game, save, and keep doing what I find fun with my guild.

Long term goal is well and good (but personally, I think ascended is too far up the scale on ‘long term’, it could definitely be easier to get and still be a long term goal) but why gate content behind this “long term goal”? If you’re running fractals, you’ll NEED this armor once the cap goes up.

My friends that barely play the game can’t do high level fractals with my group anymore because agony is such a killer now. Hell, I can’t even do 40 because I haven’t gotten around to grinding for ascended weapon crafting.

LOL you need this armor for fractals? I did not realize all those people that have already hit the level 50 fractals have ascended armor before its out! Its funny to watch people bend over backwards to try to make an argument make since.

You can get as much AR as you need from fractals with rings, accessories, and back peices, especially with the new AR infusions.

AR infusions are a massive gold sink in and of themselves, dude. Unless armor costs THOUSANDS of gold, it will be cheaper in the long run than infusions. Infusions can’t even compete.

Also, yeah, armor isn’t necessary, NOW, but when the cap does get raised? Yeah, you will definitely need it, because infusions are so expensive/time consuming to get that they’re not even worth it.

To quote myself from another thread:

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Mystic.5934:

Wallace MacBix.2089:

to get a +20 AR would take 524,288 +1 infusions

hehe. at 24s per +1 infusion, that would take 125,829g12s to make
apparently there is no hard limit on how high it goes. it just becomes impractical really quick.

Yep, plus don’t forget, you need to have a multiple of 5 to get any use out of your AR.

+10: 512 infusions
+11: 1024 infusions
+12: 2048 infusions

A +11 is useless by itself. You’d need to have 2 +12s and a +11 (or 5,120 infusions) to get +35 AR (compared to 1,536 infusions for +30 AR), to get to +40 (2 +13s and a +14 will take 16,384 infusions). Of course this will get a lot nicer if other trinkets can be infused (plus the potential 30 AR from ascended armor).

So just for a quick recap
30 AR — 1,536 Infusions --— 384 Maximum Full Fractal Runs
35 AR — 5,120 Infusions – 1,280 Maximum Full Fractal Runs
40 AR – 16,384 Infusions – 4,096 Maximum Full Fractal Runs

Still though, outside of the wealthy or those that really like to grind I think 30 AR may be the most people are willing to wait for.

And now going by the wiki
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Agony_Infusion

30 AR — will cost 22g 93s 38c in just Thermocatalytic Reagents
35 AR — will cost 76g 55s 03c in just Thermocatalytic Reagents
40 AR — will cost 245g 7s 48c in just Thermocatalytic Reagents

And while I’d argue it’s doable to grind out 384 (~337.92g worth of infusions at 0.22g per infusion) fractal runs yourself to get the 30AR. I don’t think anyone will be running the 1.2k (1,126.4g worth of infusions) or 4k (3,604.48g worth of infusions) full runs for the infusions, so the price will go up a lot.

So I hope that ascended armor has infusion slots (heck I’d honestly prefer the new agony infusion slots only, would also make the above numbers a lot more friendly). I’d rather spend the ~200g in mats I’ve been saving (or whatever it costs to go from 400-500) than just resign myself to not getting father in fractals.

Mireles Lore.5942:

Swagger.1459:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Yeah they could have it use laurels, but without a time gate, having it bought with laurels will make the crafting method effectively useless which is why you will never see another direct method happen. Laurels are a currency which exists that is not end game and is not suitable for ascended armor as an end game goal.

Laurel system has no time gate for players like me that have been playing regularly since the start are sitting on almost if not more than 200 laurels and loads of t7 mats, we would most likely have the armor the first day. And instantly be bored again.

Laurel system, will make the current reward system to obtain ascended effectively mute, as people no longer need to earn materials to craft, as it would defeat the purpose to have a laurel vendor require all the mats without the crafting. It doesn’t encourage people to venture outside their comfort zone into other areas of the game.

Just because you don’t like the way something or the way it was implemented doesn’t mean its poor, in my opinion it was a genius way to get players out in all areas of the game working toward a new goal. And it also put some value into having a crafting profession. Don’t like to craft? Don’t do it, they made the increase negligible for a reason.

You seem intelligent, so I’d like to suggest that you try to get out of that 1 dimension you’re stuck in and join us on our great migration to seek out and find new ascended options and possibilities.

Mireles Lore.5942:

Why don’t we make everything obtainable in a matter of hours and hand max armor to new people that just start the game? Because you know there should be no gates at all and having to actually perform for stuff goes against the original idea of the game of not having gear progression. Gawd forbid you have to actually play the game to get stuff.

Oh im bored so ill bite with this…

Hours? Maybe a little short, a few days would be nice, but that’s just me, personal opinion . Handing out max armor to people… its funny how there will always be such comments when there are people who are against grind, and really its a grind. I assume thats exaggeration/sarcasm but still i’ll answer to this: No i dont think items should just be handed out but neither should they take so much of your in-game time to get. I really wish we would all stop resorting to extremes. Now I dont mind if it were cosmetics, i mean yknow like what they used to say, grind only for looks? But BiS stuff, id rather it was easier to obtain, regardless of tier. But I guess this is a no-win anymore for me because i loved the fact how accessible exotics were as BiS items, back in the day so to speak, but devs clearly despised that fact, they said so somewhere i think. (or maybe thats also in part because of people whining nothing to do after lvl 80?) Oh well. I lose in that, what to do?

Oh and yes, I do play the game to get stuff. As is proper to get stuff. I play the aspects that I like. As is proper for a form of entertainment, for fun. I like dungeons, and a lot of my gear came from that. The gold and karma from dungeon runs i use to supplement it further for a few more items or gearing alts even (i dont farm CoF1 or such back then, we usually run random dungeons here and there).. World bosses are fine… i suppose…, but i dont enjoy joining the zergs to run after them one by one (ITS BORING, for me… really, i tried), and prior to ascended crafting this never made an issue as far as getting BiS item goes. Also, I levelled some crafting but after I realize there would be a lot of TEDIOUS material gatherings/or spend gold on the ever price hiking TP for the mats, i put that REALLY REALLY low on my list. What I dont get now is why I have to be forced to go all over to get the stuffs i need, because far from making me appreciate the game, i’m growing quite frustrated with it.

Also time gating. I am in the middle with this, i had no complaints as far as celestial armor went when it was first introduces, with all those quartz stuff. I thought it a little silly but oh well so were dailies for laurels, so im not really against it. But that plus all the other crap in ascended crafting, for certain i despised it.

generalraccoon.3857:

Oh and yes, I do play the game to get stuff. As is proper to get stuff. I play the aspects that I like. As is proper for a form of entertainment, for fun. I like dungeons, and a lot of my gear came from that. The gold and karma from dungeon runs i use to supplement it further for a few more items or gearing alts even (i dont farm CoF1 or such back then, we usually run random dungeons here and there).. World bosses are fine… i suppose…, but i dont enjoy joining the zergs to run after them one by one (ITS BORING, for me… really, i tried), and prior to ascended crafting this never made an issue as far as getting BiS item goes. Also, I levelled some crafting but after I realize there would be a lot of TEDIOUS material gatherings/or spend gold on the ever price hiking TP for the mats, i put that REALLY REALLY low on my list. What I dont get now is why I have to be forced to go all over to get the stuffs i need, because far from making me appreciate the game, i’m growing quite frustrated with it.

Then whats the problem?

Everything you just listed just described how one can get ascended armor. The only issue you have stated it that you don’t want to gather or spend money on materials… Which sorry to say is part of what makes this game an economy is having demand for things like materials for making armor, weapons, ect.

You can get all the materials and gold you need in the play-style u just described it just might take longer than a grind method or longer than you would like.

And “i am forced” just isn’t a valid argument you are not FORCED to play the game, nothing is roadblocked from not having this armor, and the stat increase is only +36 in more stats vrs exotic armor. You feeling forced is just that, your feelings, that is not the games fault and doesn’t make the idea bad.

Swagger.1459:

You seem intelligent, so I’d like to suggest that you try to get out of that 1 dimension you’re stuck in and join us on our great migration to seek out and find new ascended options and possibilities.

Alright ill take a stab at it.

If you were going to make a system of acquisition not based on crafting, you would still need to do it in a way that encompasses the entire game to be on par with the crafting method. There would have to be 4 different components you throw into the forge for a final product (1 peice of armor or a single weapon).

Component 1

I would suggest we re-purpose the gifts from dungeons you need from legendary and re-purpose them for ascended items as well. From dungeons, the stats you want will deter-main what dungeon you must do. To make component 1 you must throw a gift, a corresponding exotic dungeon armor piece, X amount of ecto, and X amount of skill based consumables.

Component 2

Component 2 I would have a new gift you must acquire from just laurels. To make component 2 you must get the gift of laurels, the gift of battle, X obsidian shards, and X amount of Elonian wine.

Component 3

Here you will need amounts of all 4 trade-able ascended materials deld steel, spritwood, elonian leather, and whatever the cloth based one will be.

Component 4

Here is where all the account bound materials that you should be earning comes in, since you cant make bricks of these you should need a stack of each dust, ore, and shards along with a high amount of Thermocatalytic Reagent.

Quickly thought out idea, amounts would need to be balanced to be akin to the effort required by the people that are crafting, and of course may be some fairness concerns. But that is how I would approach another means, something that includes the whole game.

daros.3407:

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Swagger.1459:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Wouldn’t Laurels make it even more time-gated?

Yes it would but it would also make it much less grindy and time consuming for people that dont play 5+ per day. And laurels are obtainable from many sources of game but don’t necessarily force to do everything in game.
Anyway it is not only laurels that could be another source of ascended weapons and armor. Badges of honor, guild comendations, fractal relics or combination of those. Even dungeon tokens could serve well here.

Anything, except Laurels. I hate time-gating much more than farming.

FenrirSlakt.3692:

daros.3407:

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Swagger.1459:

Mireles Lore.5942:

I think some people are totally missing the point of the type of goal ascended gear is supposed to provide.

I’m pretty sure gold sinks and increasing gem sales are a big part of the ascended equation as well.

Mireles Lore.5942:

They would have a hard time adding armor acquisition methods outside of drops to other areas of the game because crafting acts as a time, effort, and money gate.

naw, they could have used the laurel system (see ascended trinkets in pve and wvw) for acquiring ascended weapons and armor to start as well. would have been pretty easy for them to allow players to purchase X ascended piece for X laurels, X gold, X crafting mat or X badges to accomplish the same goals.

don’t make excuses for a poor implementation decision that only provides 1 reliable method to obtain ascended gear and alienates players who don’t like to craft in the process.

Wouldn’t Laurels make it even more time-gated?

Yes it would but it would also make it much less grindy and time consuming for people that dont play 5+ per day. And laurels are obtainable from many sources of game but don’t necessarily force to do everything in game.
Anyway it is not only laurels that could be another source of ascended weapons and armor. Badges of honor, guild comendations, fractal relics or combination of those. Even dungeon tokens could serve well here.

Anything, except Laurels. I hate time-gating much more than farming.

I understand why you hate it and i am not fan of time gating too. And i greatly fear one thing. If miracle would happen and they would give us more reliable ways how to get ascended gear for example those laurels they would anyway set price so hight that it would take too long to get one piece of gear. Something like 50 laurels for one piece :-D
I really belive they would do it…
Best it would be to let us buy it for badges, relics, tokens…for some reasonable price.
And what would be reasonable price? Lets say i want to buy it via relics, so if i do 40+fractal per day i can have it in 14 days just like in crafting . Same for tokens or badges. How much tokens can average player (the one that has real life) get in 14 days? And if someone want it faster then he can have it faster. As same as crafting now gives people way how to have weapons faster if they want to spend more gold. He still has to obtain required amount of currency, but he could choose what to do to get his gear and that would make this gear gring at least much more enjoyable and bearable. Its much better to choose what to do then be forced to farming gold/mats and do everything in game. Where is writen that player of an MMO has to enjoy everything that the MMO offers? So why they act like it would be so?

Sorry to break it to all of you who hope/think that ascended will be sold via laurels, tokens, badges. Crafting to 500 will be useless if that was the case.

Chess Jurist.3580:

Sorry to break it to all of you who hope/think that ascended will be sold via laurels, tokens, badges. Crafting to 500 will be useless if that was the case.

No if it would be same hard as via crafting. I just gived some quick examples, nothing final. Other ways how to get ascended gear should not make ascended gear easier to get but only more bareable for those who don’t like gear grind, crafting or be forced to do everything in game to get one piece of gear.

I dont think anyone is happy about it being added , it’s just another stat/build set your will be stuck with. Gearing 3 alts for WvW with ascended gear will cost a fortune and for some lil’ stats sheesh you can get from food buffs.

It’s gonna be a real gamble to build one set of armor so your fav build will be nerfed next month rendering your hardwork useless. gg

Of note: The 5% boost to Defense on Ascended Armor is barely anything. It’s a mere 2.0%-2.9% Damage Reduction.

If you’re running Light Berserker Armor, the +5% Defense boost only raises your Armor (and thus, Damage Reduction) by 2.5%. This is because Armor is Toughness + Defense, not just Defense (and everyone has 916 Base Toughness).

If you’re running Light Knight’s Armor (Toughness main stat), the +5% Defense boost only raises your Armor by 2%.

The % boost is biggest for Heavy Armor classes, and of those, it’s biggest for Berserkers (~2.9%). No matter what, however, the Defense boost on Ascended Armor will only raise your Damage Reduction by 2.0-2.9%, which is far less of a big deal when compared to Ascended Weapons (Weapon Strength is a factor of the damage formula, not added to another stat).

It will be interesting to see what they do for the Critical Damage values on Ascended Armor, however. Currently, Berserker’s Exotic Armor is awful for adding Critical Damage (you get 1-2% for a massive amount of other stats that could be there).

Not only are most of the skins simply ugly, but their stats improvement over exotic armour is negligible.
No need to grind at all.

it’s not so much the stats, it’s the agony resistance.

Mireles Lore.5942:

Why don’t we make everything obtainable in a matter of hours and hand max armor to new people that just start the game?

Frankly, that would be a marvellous idea. It worked that way in GW1, and it worked.

Astralporing.1957:

Mireles Lore.5942:

Why don’t we make everything obtainable in a matter of hours and hand max armor to new people that just start the game?

Frankly, that would be a marvellous idea. It worked that way in GW1, and it worked.

100% agree, GW was never about gear, but game play and looks. Let us be able to “Grind” and “farm” sweet looking armor skins and add another 20+ armor sets into the game, more weapon skins and give us some more dungeons with 10man content instances.

Faux.1937:

Astralporing.1957:

Mireles Lore.5942:

Why don’t we make everything obtainable in a matter of hours and hand max armor to new people that just start the game?

Frankly, that would be a marvellous idea. It worked that way in GW1, and it worked.

100% agree, GW was never about gear, but game play and looks. Let us be able to “Grind” and “farm” sweet looking armor skins and add another 20+ armor sets into the game, more weapon skins and give us some more dungeons with 10man content instances.

agrees, some people dont mind that it seems. Again i would go back to “grind only for looks, not stats” and BiS stats should be easily accessible.

“Then whats the problem?” Mireles asks me.

The problem is, respectfully speaking, is that I login a few hours a day here to play with friends. We, my friends and I, do dungeons. For me, personally, after the dungeon runs, I barely have enough time for not much else. I need to sleep, working the day after yknow. So by that alone, NO dragonite ore, thus no ascended crafting.
Unless i go zerging with the zergs. which leaves me no time for dungeons i spose?

As for the other things, i depleted my cash reserves just for mats to equip my main toon’s weapons. This includes leveling up crafting to 500 (or a bit more for those i never bothered to reach 400). Crafting lvl 425-450 and 475 to 500… well thats just randomly making exotics. Again not enough orichalcums and such, buy inflated prices. which i guess is ok. unless ur broke. Then the actual crafting itself, well thanks to all this kittens prices also gone up.

But thats just fluff i guess. The problem is, in the end, I came here expecting to grind only for cosmetics. Never for best stats. I came because of the promise. And so I’m here venting out that frustration. Pointless really, coz even Anet hated how acessible exotics were, an aspect that made me so love this game when i first played. So if u like long term grindy goals for best stats, well… you win i guess, its heading ur way. But forgive me if ill continue to despise it.

To be honest, it just depends on the stat combos that will be available. I have taken quite the liking towards the Magi stat combo on my Guardian, and so far, that is only available in AC (Precision, Vitality, Healing Power). If that’s there then I’m going to go for an ascended set. There are ways to re-skin in this game for a reason.

Every time they have added ascended gear my motivation to play has just plummeted and this is no different. I just have no desire to play due to this.

Creeper.9360:

Every time they have added ascended gear my motivation to play has just plummeted and this is no different. I just have no desire to play due to this.

That is the most ridiculous thing that has been said here. You have lost interest in the game because something was added that doesn’t change your gaming experience in even the most remote way possible?

Sounds like you already lost interest and are looking for something to blame.

generalraccoon.3857:

Faux.1937:

Astralporing.1957:

Mireles Lore.5942:

Why don’t we make everything obtainable in a matter of hours and hand max armor to new people that just start the game?

Frankly, that would be a marvellous idea. It worked that way in GW1, and it worked.

100% agree, GW was never about gear, but game play and looks. Let us be able to “Grind” and “farm” sweet looking armor skins and add another 20+ armor sets into the game, more weapon skins and give us some more dungeons with 10man content instances.

agrees, some people dont mind that it seems. Again i would go back to “grind only for looks, not stats” and BiS stats should be easily accessible.

“Then whats the problem?” Mireles asks me.

The problem is, respectfully speaking, is that I login a few hours a day here to play with friends. We, my friends and I, do dungeons. For me, personally, after the dungeon runs, I barely have enough time for not much else. I need to sleep, working the day after yknow. So by that alone, NO dragonite ore, thus no ascended crafting.
Unless i go zerging with the zergs. which leaves me no time for dungeons i spose?

If you login every day just to run dungeons and play with friends, why would you feel even remotely pressured to have ascended items? I run dungeons all the time and have one ascended weapon (GS). I have never felt like I needed an additional 2% stat gain to be more effective or have fun. Do you feel the need to get those 10 minute CoF P1 runs from 10 minutes down to 9 minutes 59 seconds?

2. My point is, a very small percentage of the population plays the higher level fractals where ascended armor is “needed”. Why would anet base the entire acquisition of ascended armor on such a small amount of people? The decision to do it the way they did was based on the large amount of casual players they have. You know, the people the game is geared and marketed toward. Stop having such a narrow view of the situation based on your anger about the situation.

3. I realize how “easy” it is to change HP, mobs and change a couple of instabilities. However, have you even played this game the last year or so? It takes anet ages to do anything or add any new content unless it’s LS or gem store stuff. The point is, they just updated fractals, if you think anet is releasing a new tier anytime soon, it would be a dramatic change from their previous behavior in regards to content updates.

Nice job trying to brush me off with even more rage filled nonsense. You are also correct, I never played 40+, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand you need more agony resist at higher levels. Fractals have always been about acquiring more AR to progress, so what makes this any different?

I never even argued that you wouldn’t need ascended armor to get more AR to get further. Still not sure why you are complaining about grind. It’s no secret there is grind in this game. People need to stop pointing to when anet said they don’t want to make a grindy game, because, you know what, it’s too late for that. The game is all about grind and has been for a while. Deal with it or find a new game.

cranked.3812:

Creeper.9360:

Every time they have added ascended gear my motivation to play has just plummeted and this is no different. I just have no desire to play due to this.

That is the most ridiculous thing that has been said here. You have lost interest in the game because something was added that doesn’t change your gaming experience in even the most remote way possible?

Sounds like you already lost interest and are looking for something to blame.

you must not read much around here if this is the most ridiculous you have ever seen.

look, it is a gear grind for this new tier of gear. and it also signals (well it was apparent when they first announced ascended gear) that this is the direction of progression of the game. I much preferred GW1’s style of skill progression rather than this gear progression. If I wanted this type of progression I can go play hundreds of other mmos that have this.

cranked.3812:

2. My point is, a very small percentage of the population plays the higher level fractals where ascended armor is “needed”. Why would anet base the entire acquisition of ascended armor on such a small amount of people? The decision to do it the way they did was based on the large amount of casual players they have. You know, the people the game is geared and marketed toward. Stop having such a narrow view of the situation based on your anger about the situation.

3. I realize how “easy” it is to change HP, mobs and change a couple of instabilities. However, have you even played this game the last year or so? It takes anet ages to do anything or add any new content unless it’s LS or gem store stuff. The point is, they just updated fractals, if you think anet is releasing a new tier anytime soon, it would be a dramatic change from their previous behavior in regards to content updates.

Nice job trying to brush me off with even more rage filled nonsense. You are also correct, I never played 40+, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand you need more agony resist at higher levels. Fractals have always been about acquiring more AR to progress, so what makes this any different?

I never even argued that you wouldn’t need ascended armor to get more AR to get further. Still not sure why you are complaining about grind. It’s no secret there is grind in this game. People need to stop pointing to when anet said they don’t want to make a grindy game, because, you know what, it’s too late for that. The game is all about grind and has been for a while. Deal with it or find a new game.

Nothing personal with ,,brushing you off" Just little payback for ,,QQing about every little thing" ;-) This is not little thing becouse it changes (or changed if you want) game to something absolutely different then it was before. And there is no QQing at least not me. I give my opinions here and try to put some suggestions. That is far from QQ.
I think we both see Anet and it’s work same way. I just dont want to accept what they are doing with the game that easy and i am using all my rights to do something about that. I know i may not be able to change it but at least i try before i will really have to go somewhere else.

cranked.3812:

If you login every day just to run dungeons and play with friends, why would you feel even remotely pressured to have ascended items? I run dungeons all the time and have one ascended weapon (GS). I have never felt like I needed an additional 2% stat gain to be more effective or have fun. Do you feel the need to get those 10 minute CoF P1 runs from 10 minutes down to 9 minutes 59 seconds?

Haha had to say, no i dont even do CoF farms and quite the opposite, i do not like those speedruns that need to shave off every second either

Heres the thing, while I do believe each ascended piece gives small increase to stats, I personally cannot agree that cumulatively, 6 armor piece + 6 trinkets + weapon(s) still give small increase overall. I’m sorry really, i just cant get myself to accept that. Now while you are right, I dont really need it in current dungeons, a fact im most thankful for, because this can help me almost totally shut out the thought that ascended armors are abt to arrive. But ill tell you what im scared of. Future contents. I know im being outpaced by many farmer/grinders and hey it seems devs want to cater to these, so who can promise that we’ll never have content where it is levelled to this tier of gear. I already see a small few posts popping up from time to time where ppl with top gear asking contents thats doable only for them (not counting fractals, but thats more of an agony thing than stats)

What I want is to be… prepared i suppose, in case it happens. Further more regardless of that, new contents have been quite a bit tougher than regular old stuff. (Levelling my toon in toxic offshoot free wayfarers was easier than stumbling to them in queensdale :P ) and I’m not ashamed to admit, id very musch like best statistical gear to make going through it easier, even if its doable in lesser gear.

Oh and please, dont take any usage of “easier” out of context. I dont want to be required perfect dodges all the time, for example, but that doesnt mean i want to face tank everything, Had to say because exaggerating is big here..

Creeper.9360:

cranked.3812:

Creeper.9360:

Every time they have added ascended gear my motivation to play has just plummeted and this is no different. I just have no desire to play due to this.

That is the most ridiculous thing that has been said here. You have lost interest in the game because something was added that doesn’t change your gaming experience in even the most remote way possible?

Sounds like you already lost interest and are looking for something to blame.

you must not read much around here if this is the most ridiculous you have ever seen.

look, it is a gear grind for this new tier of gear. and it also signals (well it was apparent when they first announced ascended gear) that this is the direction of progression of the game. I much preferred GW1’s style of skill progression rather than this gear progression. If I wanted this type of progression I can go play hundreds of other mmos that have this.

I was being slightly facetious when saying that. Doesn’t change the fact that what that person said is ludicrous. Losing interest in the game simply because a new, unimportant tier of gear came out? Come on now…..

I know this game is grindy. We all know that. I don’t think it’s that bad. It’s something you don’t need to do any content in the game except possibly higher level fractals that aren’t even out yet and there is no timeline as to when that might happen. Still, the anger about this is ridiculous and they haven’t even released the armor yet.

@daros: I can take the payback =P

Still I think this is being blown way out of proportion. Yes, it is a grind to make ascended gear. I feel like I am fairly casual at playing this game and I don’t have much trouble getting the mats and gold to equip my toon with ascended stuff. When you judge anet’s decision to make ascended the way they did, you need to understand that they are doing it based on the majority of players. They have to gear most content to the large casual population that plays this game as that is their bread and butter (the people who are most likely to buy gems). Does it stink for someone like you who just wants to run fractals and progress further? Sure, but I have a feeling that you will easily be able to craft some ascended armor long before any new fractal tier comes out.

@Raccoon:

I get what you are saying. We all want the best, coolest, newest stuff. Take a look at the stat difference between exotic and ascended, even with 6 pieces. It’s really not that much of an increase. I think I saw someone calculate it to be about 3% total increase. I see ascended as being the last tier of gear for a long time if not forever. I wouldn’t worry about it if it takes you months to craft a set. I’m sure you will do just fine with your nightly dungeon runs.

Some folks just don’t get it I guess, when Karate started getting big in the US they extended the belt color system because people like to advance and feel more powerful. Student, Teacher, Master just wasn’t enough….

Arenanet learning that lesson. Once you have all your toons looking the way you want then theres nothing much to do. If people aren’t playing then they aren’t buying gems. The parent company isn’t showing a good return because the boxed game isn’t selling as hot as it was ether.

You only have to look at the biggest MMO of all time to see that theres a lot of people who enjoy, or at least don’t mind a bit of grind. Even with this new armor theres still a heck of a lot less grind here than in most MMOs.

The stat gains are modest enough and you really don’t NEED the new ascended gear for any content in the game now.

In the end its a lot cheaper to increase people’s power a little bit threw stats on gear then it is to expand the trait lines.

vrannar.5618:

Some folks just don’t get it I guess, when Karate started getting big in the US they extended the belt color system because people like to advance and feel more powerful. Student, Teacher, Master just wasn’t enough….

Arenanet learning that lesson. Once you have all your toons looking the way you want then theres nothing much to do. If people aren’t playing then they aren’t buying gems. The parent company isn’t showing a good return because the boxed game isn’t selling as hot as it was ether.

You only have to look at the biggest MMO of all time to see that theres a lot of people who enjoy, or at least don’t mind a bit of grind. Even with this new armor theres still a heck of a lot less grind here than in most MMOs.

The stat gains are modest enough and you really don’t NEED the new ascended gear for any content in the game now.

In the end its a lot cheaper to increase people’s power a little bit threw stats on gear then it is to expand the trait lines.

Or they could do the next best thing…create more fun content people WANT to participate in, instead of a carrot on a stick that slows down the content you do want to participate in (via gold, or time)

TBH….I would actually rather them add mounts and raiding, than add more nonsensical statistical changes to the game.

Regardless of how minute, they do influence the game’s balance, and motivations.