Guild Wars 2

http://www.relicsoforr.com/?p=2861

Very interesting interview which goes over several topics which are discussed daily in this forum.

Some bullet points.

1. Attempts at monopolies/manipulation do occur, but are rarely successful/profitable.
2. Insider trading suspected, actions being planned.
3. Queen’s Jubilee really gave players lots of resources, ascended weapons a very good sink for them.

Ursan.7846:

1. Attempts at monopolies/manipulation do occur, but are rarely successful/profitable.
2. Insider trading suspected, actions being planned.
3. Queen’s Jubilee really gave players lots of resources, ascended weapons a very good sink for them.

2. Oho! This should be interesting to watch.

3. I wonder if Queen’s Jubilee is going to come back in a similar form. I could certainly do with the price of Vicious Claws coming down again.

Ursan.7846:

http://www.relicsoforr.com/?p=2861

Very interesting interview which goes over several topics which are discussed daily in this forum.

Thanks for sharing that link. I found the last question and answer to be interesting given the discussion about making more things account bound.

Interview with ArenaNet Economist John Smith and Lead Designer Izzy Cartwright

How are the economics of account/soul/unbound gear items taken into consideration when creating an item?

Izzy: Really, it comes down to the goal of the item. If the goal of the item is to be a great reward, like a rare drop from a dungeon, then you want it to be tradable. If the goal of the item is to be very prestigious, then you want it to be account-bound or soul-bound on acquire. As we create the item we look at the goals of that item and what is it trying to solve, and that normally tells us pretty quick how the item will be bound.

Pandemoniac.4739:

Interview with ArenaNet Economist John Smith and Lead Designer Izzy Cartwright

How are the economics of account/soul/unbound gear items taken into consideration when creating an item?

Izzy: Really, it comes down to the goal of the item. If the goal of the item is to be a great reward, like a rare drop from a dungeon, then you want it to be tradable. If the goal of the item is to be very prestigious, then you want it to be account-bound or soul-bound on acquire. As we create the item we look at the goals of that item and what is it trying to solve, and that normally tells us pretty quick how the item will be bound.

That philosophy totally runs counter against their initial promise by Colin. What happened to “It’s extremely important that we stay true to our philosophy that you should be able to play Guild Wars 2 the way you want to play the game in order to reach the most powerful rewards.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/colin-johanson-on-guild-wars-2-in-the-months-ahead/"

For example vial of condensed mists essence, gee I wonder if I can get an ascended back piece without going to Fractals. Answer: No you can’t! Well except for the sclerite karka shell which has the unpopular apothecary stats and also requires the exotic sclerite karka shell that are not available now.

Since I hate Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece regardless of how much of the other aspects of the game I have achieved. Setting up ascended items to be account-bound is just a “cattle prod” to nudge players to play the areas that they want you to play, instead of the areas that you really want to play.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Pandemoniac.4739:

Interview with ArenaNet Economist John Smith and Lead Designer Izzy Cartwright

How are the economics of account/soul/unbound gear items taken into consideration when creating an item?

Izzy: Really, it comes down to the goal of the item. If the goal of the item is to be a great reward, like a rare drop from a dungeon, then you want it to be tradable. If the goal of the item is to be very prestigious, then you want it to be account-bound or soul-bound on acquire. As we create the item we look at the goals of that item and what is it trying to solve, and that normally tells us pretty quick how the item will be bound.

That philosophy totally runs counter against their initial promise by Colin. What happened to “It’s extremely important that we stay true to our philosophy that you should be able to play Guild Wars 2 the way you want to play the game in order to reach the most powerful rewards.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/colin-johanson-on-guild-wars-2-in-the-months-ahead/"

For example vial of condensed mists essence, gee I wonder if I can get an ascended back piece without going to Fractals. Answer: No you can’t! Well except for the sclerite karka shell which has the unpopular apothecary stats and also requires the exotic sclerite karka shell that are not available now.

Since I hate Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece regardless of how much of the other aspects of the game I have achieved. Setting up ascended items to be account-bound is just a “cattle prod” to nudge players to play the areas that they want you to play, instead of the areas that you really want to play.

I am pretty disappointed in the delay of certain items to be available elsewhere. But they said Ascended back items will be available by other means soon(or eventually as I read it). I view the back items as a special slot to really -cap out- your stats, as the back piece has always been somewhat odd piece to get (remember the start of game the stat increase was small but the only exotics, or was it rare? were obtained through guild backpacks). For other items there are other means now, and Ascended weapons has multiple ways to obtain (though not all are friendly and RNG heavy unless you craft) but I expect in the future more options will be available.

Anet wanted ascended gear to not be as readily available as exotics since month 1 in people were arlready maxed gear. Players have split opinion on that. Personally I don’t mind ether concept.

Ursan.7846:

3. Queen’s Jubilee really gave players lots of resources, ascended weapons a very good sink for them.

And for those of us that quickly got bored with the grind and opted out what were we supposed to do?

I do agree that all Ascended items should have multiple ways to be obtained actually. The following routes should be a bare minimum:

1. Crafting. I imagine this will occur once r500 armor crafting and Jeweler is released, so I’m not too concerned about it.

2. Laurels. As a reward from dailies/monthlies, Laurels provides a way for all players to acquire Ascended gear, no matter how they choose to play.

3. Badges of Honor. This is to provide WvW-only players a means of obtaining Ascended gear without needing to delve deeply into PvE.

morrolan.9608:

Ursan.7846:

3. Queen’s Jubilee really gave players lots of resources, ascended weapons a very good sink for them.

And for those of us that quickly got bored with the grind and opted out what were we supposed to do?

Quit the game, because you are not able to play the game without ascended weapons.

Keiel.7489:

I am pretty disappointed in the delay of certain items to be available elsewhere. But they said Ascended back items will be available by other means soon(or eventually as I read it). .

I don’t see that happening anytime soon. If they really wanted ascended gear to be available elsewhere, then the easiest thing they could have done is to make them purchasable through other currencies, if not gold. Sure, they released ascended amulets, rings, and accessories to the laurel merchants but they decided to hold back the back piece. They are retaining it as a “cattle prod” to get more people into Fractals.

Which begs the question – If they want people to play Fractals, why not just make Fractals more fun? Holding back max-stat gear just to nudge people to play Fractals is just a sad way of claiming success for a particular area through ulterior means rather than putting in actual effort to making it fun.

Ursan.7846:

Quit the game, because you are not able to play the game without ascended weapons.

It is not that people cannot play this game without ascended weapons. But saying that only Fractal people deserves max stat gear is saying that the best WvW people, best map completion people, the best other dungeon people, etc all suck and do not hold a candle to Fractal people. Afterall, like what they said, it is a prestige, and it seems only Fractal people deserve that prestige of wearing max stat gear.

There are a lot of weird things going on with fractals right now. That doesn’t make the “cattle prod” right and I’m not sure what their end goal looks like, but it seems hasty to judge the game on something that’s currently so unstable.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Since I hate Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece regardless of how much of the other aspects of the game I have achieved.

I’m in the same both with you, I’m boicoting fractals since october 2012 when all that horizontal progression what they talking about was a big fat lie all that time. If you look to the history of past year everything they say it turn out to be a lie.
for example today I was bored at work and watch a youtube video where a “dedicated player” just ask for more and more progresion, some bs with legendary armor. Anet listen to dedicated players like obedient dogs. probably after ascended armor that will be next.

Off topic, I just wait until gw2 china will be released, they will eat to this content in hours and I can only see how anet will move all the teams from living story to “make something up for thowse guys to do” departament

Zaxares.5419:

I do agree that all Ascended items should have multiple ways to be obtained actually. The following routes should be a bare minimum:

1. Crafting. I imagine this will occur once r500 armor crafting and Jeweler is released, so I’m not too concerned about it.

2. Laurels. As a reward from dailies/monthlies, Laurels provides a way for all players to acquire Ascended gear, no matter how they choose to play.

3. Badges of Honor. This is to provide WvW-only players a means of obtaining Ascended gear without needing to delve deeply into PvE.

Problem is that people have stacks of 2 and 3.

Ursan.7846:

http://www.relicsoforr.com/?p=2861

Very interesting interview which goes over several topics which are discussed daily in this forum.

Some bullet points.

1. Attempts at monopolies/manipulation do occur, but are rarely successful/profitable.
2. Insider trading suspected, actions being planned.
3. Queen’s Jubilee really gave players lots of resources, ascended weapons a very good sink for them.

My big problem with this is, not everyone farmed the Queen’s Jubliee. Those that did, made a lot of $$ and resources. Those that didn’t just continued to make the average amount of resources/$$ during the game time.

Now, we have a big gold/resource sink in ascended weapons that is meant to drain the market that was pumped up from the Queen’s Jubilee.

Anyone who didn’t farm the Queen’s Jubilee is now left at a severe disadvantage and has to contend with this huge gold sink that is left in the game.

The need for a gold sink after introducing such a lucrative farm into the game was needed, but it is definately affecting anyone who did not farm this LS release.

It seems ANet is going off the theory that everyone farmed the event and everyone has a lot of resources/$$. This is simply not true.

Just gather orichalcum and ancient wood. The easiest money in the game.

Mad Rasputin.7809:

It seems ANet is going off the theory that everyone farmed the event and everyone has a lot of resources/$$. This is simply not true.

It seems that you’re going off the theory that farming Queen’s Jubilee is the only method to earn lots of resources/$$.

This is simply not true, in light of the many ways to farm which currently exists and are as profitable than Queen’s Jubilee.

dietzero.3514:

Zaxares.5419:

I do agree that all Ascended items should have multiple ways to be obtained actually. The following routes should be a bare minimum:

1. Crafting. I imagine this will occur once r500 armor crafting and Jeweler is released, so I’m not too concerned about it.

2. Laurels. As a reward from dailies/monthlies, Laurels provides a way for all players to acquire Ascended gear, no matter how they choose to play.

3. Badges of Honor. This is to provide WvW-only players a means of obtaining Ascended gear without needing to delve deeply into PvE.

Problem is that people have stacks of 2 and 3.

I have lots of laurels, badges, and 500 crafting level and yet I can’t buy an ascended back item without playing Fractals, and I can’t craft them. What is up with that? I completed dungeons, completed my world explorations, did jumping puzzles, did WvW, acquired lots of currencies, been playing since beta, committed lots and lots of time into the game, bought gems, but so what, as long as I don’t do Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece. Does it even matter if I play this game another 5 years and earn even more achievements elsewhere, without playing Fractals, I would still not be able to get an ascended back piece.

So only Fractals people deserve the prestige of having an ascended back item, while you can have the greatest achievements outside of Fractals and they still don’t matter? It is not just spending time in the game, but spending time in that area (i.e. Fractals) that they want you to play that matters.

spiritus.7983:

DarkSpirit.7046:

Since I hate Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece regardless of how much of the other aspects of the game I have achieved.

I’m in the same both with you, I’m boicoting fractals since october 2012 when all that horizontal progression what they talking about was a big fat lie all that time.

Same here.

You guys make it seem like you need to play 1000’s upon 1000’s of fractals to make an ascended back piece… I mean come on… you need 1 vial. With account bound MF, you can probably farm one within a few hour on level 1 if you wanted to.

I mean I agree there should be other methods, but you make it sound like there is some giant barrier preventing you from doing fractals… which is just not true.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

You guys make it seem like you need to play 1000’s upon 1000’s of fractals to make an ascended back piece… I mean come on… you need 1 vial. With account bound MF, you can probably farm one within a few hour on level 1 if you wanted to.

I mean I agree there should be other methods, but you make it sound like there is some giant barrier preventing you from doing fractals… which is just not true.

Finding a vial is not guaranteed and we certainly don’t need more RNG in this game. If someone has spent sufficient time looking for it, then he should be able to get it despite his bad luck with the drops, right now it is still random.

Limiting a max stat gear to a particular area is a bad idea because if you hate just this area, too bad, you don’t get progression any longer, you are forgotten.

Ursan.7846:

Mad Rasputin.7809:

It seems ANet is going off the theory that everyone farmed the event and everyone has a lot of resources/$$. This is simply not true.

It seems that you’re going off the theory that farming Queen’s Jubilee is the only method to earn lots of resources/$$.

This is simply not true, in light of the many ways to farm which currently exists and are as profitable than Queen’s Jubilee.

Obviously they were going off the #3 point, (which you posted btw) where JS said “Queen’s Jubilee gave”. There wasn’t a mention of any other event/activity, therefor the assumption based off the quote (again which you posted), is pointless to debate unless you are debating your own post or JS’s comment.

Another comment John refers to gaining inside info by ‘nefarious’ means when surely the biggest issue is the testers who are hardly gaining the info by ‘nefarious’ means.

Essence Snow.3194:

Obviously they were going off the #3 point, (which you posted btw) where JS said “Queen’s Jubilee gave”. There wasn’t a mention of any other event/activity, therefor the assumption based off the quote (again which you posted), is pointless to debate unless you are debating your own post or JS’s comment.

Yes. JS said Queen’s Jubilee pushed up player’s wealth quite a bit, which made ascended crafting accessible to a large group of people.

This doesn’t change the fact that ascended crafting is still accessible who haven’t grinded QJ. Many other sources of income still exist in the game. The fact that they were not mentioned does not mean they do not exist.

A leads to C. This does not prove that B cannot lead to C.

Logic.

morrolan.9608:

Another comment John refers to gaining inside info by ‘nefarious’ means when surely the biggest issue is the testers who are hardly gaining the info by ‘nefarious’ means.

It’s also possible that data miners can potentially obtain information from the client before the general public knows about it. For a while after every patch, some bits of information from future patches were included.

Ursan.7846:

morrolan.9608:

Another comment John refers to gaining inside info by ‘nefarious’ means when surely the biggest issue is the testers who are hardly gaining the info by ‘nefarious’ means.

It’s also possible that data miners can potentially obtain information from the client before the general public knows about it. For a while after every patch, some bits of information from future patches were included.

I wonder what he means by “nefarious” means. If someone looks up the charts in gw2spidy and gauge the prices, would that be considered “nefarious” means? I certainly hope not. But it is gaining knowledge that the general public may not know about if they don’t spend the time and effort analyzing market data.

DarkSpirit.7046:

I wonder what he means by “nefarious” means. If someone looks up the charts in gw2spidy and gauge the prices, would that be considered “nefarious” means? I certainly hope not. But it is gaining knowledge that the general public may not know about if they don’t spend the time and effort analyzing market data.

I don’t think analysing data available to the public is “insider trading.”

However, things like people buying up the Crossing prior to the Halloween patch when we had absolutely no indicators of anything changing its recipe? That’s something you cannot predict with public knowledge.

Ursan.7846:

Essence Snow.3194:

Obviously they were going off the #3 point, (which you posted btw) where JS said “Queen’s Jubilee gave”. There wasn’t a mention of any other event/activity, therefor the assumption based off the quote (again which you posted), is pointless to debate unless you are debating your own post or JS’s comment.

Yes. JS said Queen’s Jubilee pushed up player’s wealth quite a bit, which made ascended crafting accessible to a large group of people.

This doesn’t change the fact that ascended crafting is still accessible who haven’t grinded QJ. Many other sources of income still exist in the game. The fact that they were not mentioned does not mean they do not exist.

A leads to C. This does not prove that B cannot lead to C.

Logic.

This does not prove B leads to C either. Thus you cannot discount someone’s statement based on the same rational, specially when it is designated to your OP.

Full circle logic.

Essence Snow.3194:

This does not prove B leads to C either. Thus you cannot discount someone’s statement based on the same rational, specially when it is designated to your OP.

Full circle logic.

Yes. If you bothered thinking a bit after you read my post, you’ll notice in my post that I did not try to prove B leads to C, because A leads to C (Which is what you’re trying to accuse me of doing). I proved B leads to C by stating that B, which is not A, exists and will lead to the same C (wealth).

Which, if you play the game, you should know of. Champ farms. Dungeon farms. Orr farms. World Event farms. I didn’t mention the specific farms because I thought it was pretty self-evident. Apparently not.

Reading comprehension.

Ursan.7846:

Essence Snow.3194:

This does not prove B leads to C either. Thus you cannot discount someone’s statement based on the same rational, specially when it is designated to your OP.

Full circle logic.

Yes. If you bothered thinking a bit after you read my post, you’ll notice in my post that *I did not try to prove B leads to C, because A leads to C (Which is what you’re trying to accuse me of doing). I proved B leads to C by stating that B, which is not A, exists and will lead to the same C (wealth).

Which, if you play the game, you should know of. Champ farms. Dungeon farms. Orr farms. World Event farms. I didn’t mention the specific farms because I thought it was pretty self-evident. Apparently not.

Reading comprehension.

Reread it for yourself:

It seems that you’re going off the theory that farming Queen’s Jubilee is the only method to earn lots of resources/$$.

This is simply not true, in light of the many ways to farm which currently exists and are as profitable than Queen’s Jubilee.

Are you really reading what you are writing?

Ignorant arrogance.

Essence Snow.3194:

Reread it for yourself:

It seems that you’re going off the theory that farming Queen’s Jubilee is the only method to earn lots of resources/$$.

This is simply not true, in light of the many ways to farm which currently exists and are as profitable than Queen’s Jubilee.

Are you really reading what you are writing?

Ignorant arrogance.

It’s a question I must ask also. Is your reading comprehension seriously that deficient?

Ursan.7846:

This is simply not true

My statement

Ursan.7846:

in light of the many ways to farm which currently exists and are as profitable than Queen’s Jubilee.

My reasoning for my statement. The fact that there are “Many ways to farm which currently exists.” There are many other methods, aside from the QJ, which gives players lots of wealth.

Hence the statement that only people who farmed the QJ has $$$, is untrue.

Evidently not as much as yours.

Note that I did not say that A or B could or couldn’t lead to C. What I did say is that you cannot discount someone’s comment based off the information you gave in the OP.

This is hilarious!

Essence Snow.3194:

Note that I did not say that A or B could or couldn’t lead to C. What I did say is that you cannot discount someone’s comment based off the information you gave in the OP.

Yes, and I have agreed with this fact in all my posts.

You then asserted that then it’s pointless to debate this fact. I merely replied that no, I’m not actually doing that. And that there is plenty of evidence in-game contrary to said person’s statement. You then continue to accuse me of discounting someone’s comment based purely in the information giving in the OP. And I continue to point out that no, I did not.

I’ll address the following:

Mad Rasputin.7809:

It seems ANet is going off the theory that everyone farmed the event and everyone has a lot of resources/$$. This is simply not true.

Anet has access to internal reports that can provide a general idea of what happened with the JQ farming. Any data about wealth and resource acquisition is during this time frame would relate to a game wide data set, not an individual one. So yes, it’s true that not everyone farmed and made a lot of money. But also realize that Anet is not basing “sink creations” on the false assumption that everyone got rich.

That said, it doesn’t discount the fact that a lot more resources were made available overall. With the increase in resources, prices fell, and a lot of it was shared with other players via the Trading Post. Some players who didn’t do Pavilion or Aetherblade Champ farming are technically left behind. But the resources generated from these events still exist, and increased Supply.

Large scale farming vs money making

Just an aside: The reason why “sinks” need to be in place is because of the large increase in the availability of resources from farming. Loot drops and the eventual selling of them on the TP have a greater impact on the economy than gold farming. Doing Gauntlet runs, CoF speed clears, or being a TP Baron do not generate resources, but rather individual wealth.

I’ll ask this here given that the interview talks about ascended weapons but I doubt I’ll get a response.

Chris W made 2 statements when ascended items were introduced: that there would be zero grind associated with acquisition; and multiple ways of getting them. How can these statements be reconciled with the grindy nature of obtaining mats to make ascended weapons and that there is effectively only 1 way of getting them (given the drop rate is absolutely miniscule)?

morrolan.9608:

I’ll ask this here given that the interview talks about ascended weapons but I doubt I’ll get a response.

Chris W made 2 statements when ascended items were introduced: that there would be zero grind associated with acquisition; and multiple ways of getting them. How can these statements be reconciled with the grindy nature of obtaining mats to make ascended weapons and that there is effectively only 1 way of getting them (given the drop rate is absolutely miniscule)?

1) What grind? I get more than enough Ascended mats simply from playing normal. Players create the grind themselves by wanting to rush mat collecting. All my alts are full of Bloodstone, Dragonite, and Empyreal stacks. Of all the stacks I have, I only grind/farmed 10% of them so I could craft my first Ascended weapon quickly.

2) There are multiple ways to get Ascended weapons. You can craft them, or get them from drops, or from WvW Rank chests. Just because you’re not lucky enough to get an Ascended chest drop, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

1) What grind? I get more than enough Ascended mats simply from playing normal.

Depends what parts of the game you like playing.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

2) There are multiple ways to get Ascended weapons. You can craft them, or get them from drops, or from WvW Rank chests. Just because you’re not lucky enough to get an Ascended chest drop, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

I count drops from chest as drops, and like I said the drop rate is so small that it EFFECTIVELY doesn’t count as an alternative. Its probably so small that someone could literally play for thousands of hours and still not get 1 drop.

morrolan.9608:

I count drops from chest as drops, and like I said the drop rate is so small that it EFFECTIVELY doesn’t count as an alternative. Its probably so small that someone could literally play for thousands of hours and still not get 1 drop.

But many players have seen the items drop in-game. You’re welcome to your opinion, but just because you don’t count it among the ways to obtain an item does not suddenly make it cease to exist. There are multiple ways to obtain ascended equipment.

For example, many people like to claim that precursor drops in the open world are a myth, and you can only obtain them from the MF or buy them from someone who has. A few months ago I got Dusk from the bonus chest for doing the Shadow Behemoth event. So I know that it can happen. Claiming otherwise does not make my experience invalid.

tolunart.2095:

morrolan.9608:

I count drops from chest as drops, and like I said the drop rate is so small that it EFFECTIVELY doesn’t count as an alternative. Its probably so small that someone could literally play for thousands of hours and still not get 1 drop.

But many players have seen the items drop in-game. You’re welcome to your opinion, but just because you don’t count it among the ways to obtain an item does not suddenly make it cease to exist. There are multiple ways to obtain ascended equipment.

You will note I use the word ‘effectively’. If anet are going to claim drops as their alternate means then its simply a way to weasel out of the issue.

morrolan.9608:

You will note I use the word ‘effectively’. If anet are going to claim drops as their alternate means then its simply a way to weasel out of the issue.

That doesn’t change the fact that it’s merely your opinion and not a statement of fact. In a game with several hundred thousand players online every day, it happens a lot more than you seem to think it does.

tolunart.2095:

morrolan.9608:

You will note I use the word ‘effectively’. If anet are going to claim drops as their alternate means then its simply a way to weasel out of the issue.

That doesn’t change the fact that it’s merely your opinion and not a statement of fact. In a game with several hundred thousand players online every day, it happens a lot more than you seem to think it does.

Yes! Didn’t you know that people win the lotto all the time. It’s a completely valid way to get rich! Work? Please….I’ll go with my valid alternate method.

DarkSpirit.7046:

dietzero.3514:

Zaxares.5419:

I do agree that all Ascended items should have multiple ways to be obtained actually. The following routes should be a bare minimum:

1. Crafting. I imagine this will occur once r500 armor crafting and Jeweler is released, so I’m not too concerned about it.

2. Laurels. As a reward from dailies/monthlies, Laurels provides a way for all players to acquire Ascended gear, no matter how they choose to play.

3. Badges of Honor. This is to provide WvW-only players a means of obtaining Ascended gear without needing to delve deeply into PvE.

Problem is that people have stacks of 2 and 3.

I have lots of laurels, badges, and 500 crafting level and yet I can’t buy an ascended back item without playing Fractals, and I can’t craft them. What is up with that? I completed dungeons, completed my world explorations, did jumping puzzles, did WvW, acquired lots of currencies, been playing since beta, committed lots and lots of time into the game, bought gems, but so what, as long as I don’t do Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece. Does it even matter if I play this game another 5 years and earn even more achievements elsewhere, without playing Fractals, I would still not be able to get an ascended back piece.

So only Fractals people deserve the prestige of having an ascended back item, while you can have the greatest achievements outside of Fractals and they still don’t matter? It is not just spending time in the game, but spending time in that area (i.e. Fractals) that they want you to play that matters.

spiritus.7983:

DarkSpirit.7046:

Since I hate Fractals, I can never ever get an ascended back piece regardless of how much of the other aspects of the game I have achieved.

I’m in the same both with you, I’m boicoting fractals since october 2012 when all that horizontal progression what they talking about was a big fat lie all that time.

Same here.

I do not do fractals either. I actually do no dungeons, because WoW dungeoned me all out. So yeah, I am in the same boat. Laurels and WvW badges should be fine for purchasing cloaks, but he was talking about all ascended items. The only way that could function is if they capped them at like 1 item a week, or something. Which would be irritating.

John Smith.4610:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But make no mistake. If you didn’t make your Gold from the Queen’s Gauntlet, or Champion farming, you’ll be left behind in terms of wealth. That’s why it’ll be interesting to see how Anet responds to this.

This is incredibly hyperbolous. In the last week, the median player earned less than 3 gold in the new content (that’s discounting all players who earned less than 1 gold).

Just a reminder for the OP: a statement by JM himself
some people didn’t farm the Queen Gauntlet/Pavilion or the Scarlett’s Invasions so they have no wealth that needs to be sunk
the poor “plebeians” as OP called them not so long ago

errebi.7630:

John Smith.4610:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But make no mistake. If you didn’t make your Gold from the Queen’s Gauntlet, or Champion farming, you’ll be left behind in terms of wealth. That’s why it’ll be interesting to see how Anet responds to this.

This is incredibly hyperbolous. In the last week, the median player earned less than 3 gold in the new content (that’s discounting all players who earned less than 1 gold).

Just a reminder for the OP: a statement by JM himself
some people didn’t farm the Queen Gauntlet/Pavilion or the Scarlett’s Invasions so they have no wealth that needs to be sunk
the poor “plebeians” as OP called them not so long ago

Of course some plebes didn’t farm the QJ or the Invasions. This doesn’t change the fact that people did, and this wealth needed to be sunk somehow. Ascended crafting did that. At the same time, champ bags and dungeon gold rewards were introduced, which gave people access to more permanent farming methods which they could farm, if they missed out on the temporary content.

errebi.7630:

John Smith.4610:

Smooth Penguin.5294:

But make no mistake. If you didn’t make your Gold from the Queen’s Gauntlet, or Champion farming, you’ll be left behind in terms of wealth. That’s why it’ll be interesting to see how Anet responds to this.

This is incredibly hyperbolous. In the last week, the median player earned less than 3 gold in the new content (that’s discounting all players who earned less than 1 gold).

Just a reminder for the OP: a statement by JM himself
some people didn’t farm the Queen Gauntlet/Pavilion or the Scarlett’s Invasions so they have no wealth that needs to be sunk
the poor “plebeians” as OP called them not so long ago

You’re spinning that the wrong way. John responded to my comment in terms of overall player population. Not everyone farmed, this is true. However, as Ursan and I have said, that doesn’t mean the resources weren’t farmed by the smaller percentage of the population. The farming that did happen generated more resources for the small percentage of the population, who then sold it to the rest via the TP. The influx dropped mat values to half what it is today.

mr. Smith is reffering to the wealth people earned during the Queen Jubilee event, so i dare to say he is contradicting himself, or maybe ascended crafting (more or less 200 golds for each craft from 400 to 500) is designed only for the ones who farmed the event, so a minority of the playerbase, as Mr Smith stated
OT: plebes, plebeians…are you playing with semantics?

edit: i don’t like to spam so i edit the post
IMO the contradiction is on the fact that ascended craft is meant for all the playerbase, while only a percentage (less than 50% is an educated guess?) of said playerbase increased significantly their wealth
OT: I don’t want to start a debate about the derogatory meaning of the word plebeian

errebi.7630:

mr. Smith is reffering to the wealth people earned during the Queen Jubilee event, so i dare to say he is contradicting himself, or maybe ascended crafting (more or less 200 golds for each craft from 400 to 500) is designed only for the ones who farmed the event, so a minority of the playerbase, as Mr Smith stated

I don’t see the contradiction.

In the article, he states that overall player wealth increased after the event.

In your quote, he basically states that wealth has increased, but hasn’t increased as much as Mr. Smooth says.

The two statements are not mutually exclusive.

Plebes is the plural form of plebeian.

errebi.7630:

mr. Smith is reffering to the wealth people earned during the Queen Jubilee event, so i dare to say he is contradicting himself, or maybe ascended crafting (more or less 200 golds for each craft from 400 to 500) is designed only for the ones who farmed the event, so a minority of the playerbase, as Mr Smith stated
OT: plebes, plebeians…are you playing with semantics?

edit: i don’t like to spam so i edit the post
IMO the contradiction is on the fact that ascended craft is meant for all the playerbase, while only a percentage (less than 50% is an educated guess?) of said playerbase increased significantly their wealth
OT: I don’t want to start a debate about the derogatory meaning of the word plebeian

When I said “wealth”, I included not only Gold, but the materials and other drops. I did not elaborate on this, so then John, through access to GW2 raw data, made a statement on Gold itself.

A smaller percent (than I assumed) of the population got rich through farming. Gold and resources were generated. People who didn’t farm only saw a small uptick in their wealth, but shared in the excess resources by buying from the TP. So as I stated before, some players who didn’t take advantage of loot drops are left behind. That’s not to say they can’t participate in Ascended crafting. Just that farmers will have an easier time with the vast resources they kept.

I apologize, I do not want to sound polemic, but what is the logic on which it is based the “taxation” of the entire playerbase (through ascended crafting) while it seems a fact confirmed that a good percentage the players has no greatly increased their wealth (in gold and/or materials)?

errebi.7630:

I apologize, I do not want to sound polemic, but what is the logic on which it is based the “taxation” of the entire playerbase (through ascended crafting) while it seems a fact confirmed that a good percentage the players has no greatly increased their wealth (in gold and/or materials)?

I believe it’s a two fold reason.

1) First of all, Ascended gear is not supposed to be easy or quick to acquire. These are top tier equipment, and have some sort of gate to them. For Ascended accessories, you’ll notice that certain ones require Laurels, which are majorly gated. Some require Fractal tokens, which are slightly easier to get. Armors and weapons require a lot of high level materials, plus time. You can bypass the time gate here, but you’ll have to pay the market price on the TP.

2) The other reason why Anet implemented such high mat costs is because of what me and Ursan have stated previously. There’s a lot more resources generated due to farming. We’re not talking about individual people who didn’t farm, so let’s get away from that. The Supply of these resources are higher than normal. The excess needed a sink, thus the reason why some Ascended mats required the amounts you currently see in game. On the flip side, market players capitalized on this by making a profit on common mats, since they were now in high demand. People wanted to make Ascended gear, thus were willing to pay outrageous prices. Did you enjoy paying 12 Silver for one Ancient Wood Log? No? But people did anyways, and farmers who held off selling when prices were low, made a killing.

It all comes down to taking away resources from the world. It doesn’t matter what a poor player has in his/her bank. Yes they might not be able to afford to buy from the TP. But most of these required mats can be easily obtained through normal game play. They’ll just have to take longer to craft Ascended by doing it the old fashioned way, harvesting.

Most of the resources that were/are needed for ascended crafting were not obtained during the QJ.

Sure, some extra T6 materials were dumped into the market which helped with crafting exotics. A lot of cores/lodestones were also pumped into the market which crashed their prices.

But the mass of mid tier wood/ore needed for ascended crafting? How were these markets pumped up during the QJ to the point where the market needed a new massive sink for these materials?

Even if I’m wrong on my point #2 about mid tier mats, point #1 still stands.

I actually found your posts pretty informative and pretty insightful.

I agree that they intended ascended weapons to be time gated. Thus, the reason for the actual time gated materials and the reason for the high cost of materials to make.

I just disagree that ascended weapons were meant to be a big sink directly for the influx of materials that were introduced via the QJ.

But you have a very valid point that the influx of materials via the QJ affected prices of these materials on the TP. Indirectly, that would mean that players would not have to spend more for the materials they need and have a little extra gold to spend.

It just seems ANet created a big disparity in the player base by implementing the QJ farming like they did. If you farmed it, you were well ahead of the curve when ascended weapons were released. If you didn’t, you have to play catch up and try to farm all your gold/materials else where now.

Mad Rasputin.7809:

Most of the resources that were/are needed for ascended crafting were not obtained during the QJ.

Sure, some extra T6 materials were dumped into the market which helped with crafting exotics. A lot of cores/lodestones were also pumped into the market which crashed their prices.

But the mass of mid tier wood/ore needed for ascended crafting? How were these markets pumped up during the QJ to the point where the market needed a new massive sink for these materials?

Mid Tier wood/ore/cloth/leather was made available through lootbags that dropped during the jubilee and scarlets invasions.

Also, low and mid lvl areas got populated through the invasions, giving you the opportunity to harvest the nodes while farming the invasions.