Guild Wars 2

You know.. I have a family and a full time job, and like video games. I decided to get this game cause it was supposed to be balanced. Your win/lose situation on WvWvW (I don’t play dungeons) would depend on player’s ability, not on gear.

Now all this craze about making ascended armors and weapons. I definitive DON"T have the time to farm stuff and laurels and bla bla bla don’t know what other stuff needed to make a set or a weapon. Even the hardcore gamer’s that can have the time to farm are complaining about the difficulty and the TIME to getting the mats.

Soon, lots of people that can afford to play this game all day, will have ascended stuff vs the normal players that the most they can afford is exotic.

This game is just becoming like the rest of online FARMING video games. If I wanted to do hardcore farming, I would play Farmville, for Christ’s sake.

agree that its difficult on the casual gamers/ people who dont have the time to put in.

disagree that ascended armor is needed for any part of the game currently.

the stat increases are small. and as always, skill>>>gear

Hi QuiroN. I consider myself a casual player as well, since I also have a full time job and a husband and other family, so my play time is limited to maybe 2 hours weeknights and then more on weekends (like to play while I have my Sat/Sun morning coffee). I understand where you’re coming from, but I honestly don’t think it is necessary to get ascended gear for WvW. If you’re hard core into fractals I can understand actually needing it, but I guarantee you that 80% of WvW player probably will not want to grind for this stuff either. In zerg vs. zerg, what’s it going to matter?

Personally, I play PvE, dungeons (occassionally) and WvW. I am not planning on getting any ascended weapons or armor. I use my laurels and guild commendations to get ascended trinkets only, and usually exotics are fine for those as well.

TLDR: don’t stress about it. Play how you like. Ascended is seriously NOT required.

froacus.6892:

the stat increases are small. and as always, skill>>>gear

Correct, at least with respect to armor. Weapons and trinkets actually do make a significant difference; hundreds per attribute or a ton of extra crit damage, for example. Trinkets are relatively easy to get, but for casual players ascended is overall prohibitive.

In WvW, exotics will continue to be a disadvantage as more players deck out with ascended pieces + infusions, and that’s without considering the massive costs hardcore players afford into slotting top upgrades and supplying the best nourishment. It adds up to a big advantage over those who can’t match numbers and bonuses.

Why are you acting so entitled? Why in the world would you think that you should be able to have Best-in-Slot gear by the time you reach level 80? /s

Lord Kuru.3685:

Why are you acting so entitled? Why in the world would you think that you should be able to have Best-in-Slot gear by the time you reach level 80? /s

i dont know that the sentiment the OP is expressing is entitlement. at least, thats not how i took it.

ANET and the guild wars franchise has always taken the stand that their games are not a gear grind (grind and grind to get the best gear which offers significant advantages to those with over those without). What the OP is saying (IMO) is that they feel ascended gear DOES offer a significant advantage. And that for most, that advantage is out of reach.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Why are you acting so entitled? Why in the world would you think that you should be able to have Best-in-Slot gear by the time you reach level 80? /s

He didn’t say that at all. Seems like you are looking for an argument. I get his point but even as a casual, it’s not hard to deck out in Ascended trinkets and over some months, a weapon as well. Armor will likely be out of reach though.

1. Ascended armor gives 60 Defense (for heavy, less than that for medium light), +14 on major, +11 on minor stats (or +1% on crit) over exotic.
1a. Therefore stat gain is so insignificant from armor.
1b. You survive like 0.02 seconds longer and deal like +20 more damage to an average enemy out of like 5,000 with exotic
1c. You can do fine with ascended trinkets and exotic weapons/armor
1d. The argument that : vs some unknown enemy in WvW with full ascended in irrelevant and invalid. You don’t know if your enemy has full ascended. Such “what if” question is irrelevant. To assume in a zerg of 30 vs 30, that everyone in your zerg is exotic and everyone in their zerg is ascended is stupid. To assume that there is such an even number of people 30 vs 30 is also irrational.
1e. Therefore ascended armor is irrelevant in WvW.
Hence
2. You don’t need to have ascended armor for any “casual” contents. (Fractal 40 is not for casual, even if you want to do it efficiently just use ascended trinkets to have enough AR)
3. You mention you have a full time job. You may earn 30-50k a year. Pay 100$ for 8000 gems = 450g, and you have more than enough gold for two sets of ascended armor/weapons if you must. I’m not saying you have to, it’s just an option.
4. There is no such thing as free lunch. You can’t just say I want x,y,z and Kaboom avadakabra and you have it.
5. The cost is determined, everyone has to pay xxx gold for the set, you are not exempted.
5b. You can farm for it like everyone does, play the TP for gold, or pay for gold.
5c. There is an opportunity cost in everything. If you are not willing to do what it’s needed to obtain the set, you won’t have it.
5d. The people that farm all days to get the ascended stuff would lose out in life and other things, so in a way you’re even.

QuiroN.9758:

You know.. I have a family and a full time job, and like video games. I decided to get this game cause it was supposed to be balanced. Your win/lose situation on WvWvW (I don’t play dungeons) would depend on player’s ability, not on gear.

Solution: If you are a casual gamer, simply stop playing WvWvW and Fractals, which needs the extra power from ascended gear and the agony resistance.

Skip the harder dungeons too if it helps. If this doesn’t work out for you then quit, you are a casual gamer anyway, you can come back to the game anytime.

Stars.2179:

You don’t know if your enemy has full ascended.

You would know it when you feel the extra damage on your full exotic behind.

DarkSpirit.7046:

You would know it when you feel the extra damage on your full exotic behind.

Or they could just use sentinels / knight / of the knight sets spec in full tanking + ascended trinket but only exotic armor. So unless you are ANet and can monitor the stat, you really can’t tell. There are just too much unknown variables.

Stars.2179:

DarkSpirit.7046:

You would know it when you feel the extra damage on your full exotic behind.

Or they could just use sentinels / knight / of the knight sets spec in full tanking + ascended trinket but only exotic armor. So unless you are ANet and can monitor the stat, you really can’t tell. There are just too much unknown variables.

If you are familiar enough in WvW to know what the rough damage numbers from a full exotic member of the class should dish out, you should be able to gauge if the guy has extra damage from ascended gear or not.

Besides, if he doesn’t bother to transmute his skins, you should be able to tell, for sure, that he is using ascended weapons/armor.

Stars.2179:

4. There is no such thing as free lunch. You can’t just say I want x,y,z and Kaboom avadakabra and you have it.

Just so you know that phrase refers to opportunity cost not wish fulfillment. That is if some one offers you a free lunch (and you choose to accept it) you have to take time to go get it, and/or eat it all things that preclude you from doing something else with your time.

As for what the OP said no matter what way they try to justify it this is a gear treadmill. Even if the stat increase is minimal (and the slots open the room even more stats through infusions). No matter the case whether it be 1% better or 10% better this is a gearing treadmill.

we all know in high competitive zone like PVP/WvsW, even a slight mistake/misuse skill can cost you your life. the stats boost between Ascend and exotic might not be too many, but with weapon + armor, it does add up or at least not equal anymore. in GW1, you can just hop in anytime with white items and still can have equal ground with others player, the only different is skins. if you want cool skin you grind.

however, Anet is straying far from GW1 which make them success. they also said to make it less grind, but everything seem opposite with every update.
i was with GW1 since beta untill now but i think i had to part.

QuiroN.9758:

You know.. I have a family and a full time job, and like video games. I decided to get this game cause it was supposed to be balanced. Your win/lose situation on WvWvW (I don’t play dungeons) would depend on player’s ability, not on gear.

Now all this craze about making ascended armors and weapons. I definitive DON"T have the time to farm stuff and laurels and bla bla bla don’t know what other stuff needed to make a set or a weapon. Even the hardcore gamer’s that can have the time to farm are complaining about the difficulty and the TIME to getting the mats.

Soon, lots of people that can afford to play this game all day, will have ascended stuff vs the normal players that the most they can afford is exotic.

This game is just becoming like the rest of online FARMING video games. If I wanted to do hardcore farming, I would play Farmville, for Christ’s sake.

Casual means two things to me in GW2,

1. Not so much a “gamer”, only a few hours a week bouncing around not going for completionist end game type player.

2. You have a career, family, etc and little less time to do as you mention to attain certain items even though you really want them.

This is why we have an option to buy ingame gold & pay your way to 500 crafting plus ascended gear. Comes down to either you have time to play the game or pay the game, choice is yours.

Wetpaw.3487:

This is why we have an option to buy ingame gold & pay your way to 500 crafting plus ascended gear. Comes down to either you have time to play the game or pay the game, choice is yours.

And this is where you go wrong, but it is a common mistake people make when they assume that they can just pay their way into acquiring all needed ascended gear.

Ascended gear crafting recipes are designed in such a way that there 2 major components. 1 major component can be paid through with lots of gold. The other major component are account-bound items like the vision crystals and its account-bound ingredients. These can never be bought, so you have to grind for those, no way out. This is why ANet described ascended gear as being a “time-gated” reward.

How did ArenaNet reach the decision that ascended gear should be account-bound?

Izzy: I just mentioned that we like rewards that are balanced between time and money investment – well, exotic gear was almost entirely gated by money, so many players were able to acquire that tier of gear very quickly, which weakened all the rewards in the game. The whole goal of ascended gear as to provide more reward and progression which mean by nature it needed to not be tradable so there’s a time investment. This was also a way to funnel more of the economy and content types into their acquisition.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/87773-interview-with-arenanet-economist-john-smith-and-lead-designer-izzy-cartwright/

Seems like ascended gear is a time-gated, vertical progression, gear treadmill to me.

I agree that this is nothing more than a gear grind. Right now it is ascended armor, soon it will probably be Legendary. Just like the weapons. Whats next Godly weapons?.

I am a casual player not devoting all of my time and free money to playing this game, I do not weapons smith or armor smith, therefore I like some others in my situation am out of luck when it comes too ascended items, exception being the trinkets and rings.

On the whole argument of skill trumping gear, It only trumps it until the spread is so great that the guy or gal with the lesser gear can do nothing to his opponent. I dare any of you who say that I’m full of it to purchase all white gear of lvl 80 (the worst and never used gear in the game) and go into wvwvw and see how you do with your mad skills against someone in Exotics, and yes this example is extreme, it was meant to be.

Obtena.7952:

Lord Kuru.3685:

Why are you acting so entitled? Why in the world would you think that you should be able to have Best-in-Slot gear by the time you reach level 80? /s

He didn’t say that at all. Seems like you are looking for an argument. I get his point but even as a casual, it’s not hard to deck out in Ascended trinkets and over some months, a weapon as well. Armor will likely be out of reach though.

I was being sarcastic. (See Colin’s quote about having BiS gear upon reaching level 80.)

Ascended gear is an awful mistake. If nothing more, it will hurt Anet’s bottom line: people are not going to create more than one set of gear once they get Ascended. With most skins being one time use, many people will be very reluctant to kill off the skin they’ve already put on an Ascended piece of gear. (With exotics, you can easily get a new piece of gear for the new skin.)

WvW should be balanced. Even 10 vitality can make a difference (for example, when you are about to die and need just one second to complete the healing spell with 3 illusions up).

Everybody had the option to make their gear and mix stats as they like. Exotics are fine with me, since I don’t mind some farming or investing the gold you earn on mats or complete pieces. And sure, its kind of fun (to craft stuff). Also, the other armor sets, had the same (or similar) stat numbers, but with different skins. You could make the diference with skill points, traits, the sigils, signets, jewels, etc. The choice was on the players hand, and everybody was on the same terms.

Now….

I can’t compete with someone that can play and farm 10 hours daily (or more). You need lots of gold for the mats, either you play a lot, or pay real money.

Uber farming (gear grind) or spending real money… this is where the game is heading.

Sound familiar?

ozmaniandevil.6805:

If you’re hard core into fractals I can understand actually needing it, but I guarantee you that 80% of WvW player probably will not want to grind for this stuff either. In zerg vs. zerg, what’s it going to matter?

That’s more likely because 80% of WvW players can’t obtain the loot needed to get buy breakfast let alone gear. The hardcore ones though, the elite guilds, the insane roamers, they’ll have it. And those fights are the ones that matter.

Ross Biddle.2367:

ozmaniandevil.6805:

If you’re hard core into fractals I can understand actually needing it, but I guarantee you that 80% of WvW player probably will not want to grind for this stuff either. In zerg vs. zerg, what’s it going to matter?

That’s more likely because 80% of WvW players can’t obtain the loot needed to get buy breakfast let alone gear. The hardcore ones though, the elite guilds, the insane roamers, they’ll have it. And those fights are the ones that matter.

Well speaking of myself …those people are gonna kick my can no matter if i have ascended gear or not because i am casual. I already know i’m going to lose 1v1 with the elite guys even if they wear rare armor because they play more and have better skills than i do. I still manage to kill lots of enemirs and have a ton of fun in WvW.

TheGuy.3568:

Stars.2179:

4. There is no such thing as free lunch. You can’t just say I want x,y,z and Kaboom avadakabra and you have it.

Just so you know that phrase refers to opportunity cost not wish fulfillment. That is if some one offers you a free lunch (and you choose to accept it) you have to take time to go get it, and/or eat it all things that preclude you from doing something else with your time.

As for what the OP said no matter what way they try to justify it this is a gear treadmill. Even if the stat increase is minimal (and the slots open the room even more stats through infusions). No matter the case whether it be 1% better or 10% better this is a gearing treadmill.

I wasn’t referring to fulfillment. My point is about opportunity cost although that statement itself might implies about fulfillment He can’t have both $$$ from work and free stuffs in game.

Also gear treadmill would imply that there are tiers after tier after tiers non-stop every six months. Adding one and only one tier is hardly a treadmill. Would you call it a treadmill had ascended stuffs been released at launch at the cost of say roughly 1000g per item?

They won’t add another tier as long as Colin is working there, or he has announced otherwise: “This should be it”.

Stars.2179:

Also gear treadmill would imply that there are tiers after tier after tiers non-stop every six months. Adding one and only one tier is hardly a treadmill. Would you call it a treadmill had ascended stuffs been released at launch at the cost of say roughly 1000g per item?

By your definition, then it is just not possible for ANY game to have a gear treadmill. An infinite number of gear tiers simply does not exist in real life and it is not possible to implement since computer resources are always limited.

The game is becoming progressively more inaccessible to casual players. I share and agree with that sentiment.

Luckily:

Ascended weapons do not offer enough of an advantage vs exotic to matter.
Ascended armors do not offer enough of an advantage vs exotic to matter.

However, combined they begin to provide a larger buffer with +60 armor, +20 stat points and +45-50~ damage.

Regardless, I will say, it is still not enough to allow a mediocre player to overcome a skilled player.

I’m of the personal opinion its more or less a psychological thing for gamers. That is; it is always pleasing to know you’re up to date with the most advanced gear. Knowing you’re in ‘measly exotics’ whilst others are in ‘ascended’ can make things less enjoyable. You have that annoying next step to ‘grind out’ at some point, and nobody enjoys that knowledge. In this regard, no matter how much somebody preached that there was little to no benefit to ascended vs exotic, people will always feel behind.

My massive inferiority complex online is making me get my ascended regardless of the small insignificant bonus’s =p.

Although I will admit, if I wasn’t able to spend a fair chunk of my time playing, I wouldn’t be able to do much of the ascended stuff at all, and probably wouldn’t feel too good about it.

QuiroN.9758:

Soon, lots of people that can afford to play this game all day, will have ascended stuff vs the normal players that the most they can afford is exotic.

Sooooo… what you’re saying is that you’re Entitled to have the same gear and wealth of a player than can play 10x more than you? How is this fair?

Using the real world as an example: “You work a 40 hour week, and make $50,000 a year. Should someone working only 10 hours a week, make the same amount as you per year for doing the same type of work?”

The real problem is in the future when:

A.) A new tier of equipment is released. The competitive are happy and the casuals say screw it and leave.

or

B.) They release a new tier of equipment and nerf the cost of making ascended. Then all the work people are putting into making their sets right now would feel worthless.

Increasing the ability to get materials for vision crystals, recipes or other components avoids both of these problems in the long term and doesn’t negatively impact other players in either way.

To the people saying, “Ascended gear gives no considerable stat increase outside of fractals.” By that logic, ascended gear gives no advantage to casual players either, so there shouldn’t be an issue with making it more tolerable to make, and I’d speculate there’s a lot more PvE bunnies who aren’t at fractal level 40+.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Ross Biddle.2367:

That’s more likely because 80% of WvW players can’t obtain the loot needed to get buy breakfast let alone gear. The hardcore ones though, the elite guilds, the insane roamers, they’ll have it. And those fights are the ones that matter.

Well speaking of myself …those people are gonna kick my can no matter if i have ascended gear or not because i am casual. I already know i’m going to lose 1v1 with the elite guys even if they wear rare armor because they play more and have better skills than i do. I still manage to kill lots of enemirs and have a ton of fun in WvW.

It’s not only about 1v1. Even currently, organized guild zergs have an advantage over random pug blobs. Better organization, better average skill level, and better stats (due to being generally better geared – less uplevels and greens in there – and also more common food use). Making those advantages even greater is not a good thing. Increasing even more the gap between “professional” WvW-ers and more casual ones is sending out a message to all players, that only the former are invited, and the latter should GTFO. It’s building bigger entry barriers, and making this content less accessible (and less welcoming) for new people. And while this may indeed be what some of the WvW players would want, it seems to run against current dev designs for this game mode (based on what they do and say lately).

Did you hear about www infusions?
means you get another 30 point in 1 stat

Or +30 AR for fotm needed for lvl50 (you can also buy the +10 infusions but they cost even more).

Goblin.5987:

I agree that this is nothing more than a gear grind. Right now it is ascended armor, soon it will probably be Legendary. Just like the weapons. Whats next Godly weapons?.

Legendary is the same stats as the highest possible item. So, a legendary weapon has the stats of an ascended weapon and a legendary armour would have the same stats as ascended armour. Thus only worth getting if you like the looks (if you already have ascended armour/weapons).

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

Goblin.5987:

I agree that this is nothing more than a gear grind. Right now it is ascended armor, soon it will probably be Legendary. Just like the weapons. Whats next Godly weapons?.

Legendary is the same stats as the highest possible item. So, a legendary weapon has the stats of an ascended weapon and a legendary armour would have the same stats as ascended armour. Thus only worth getting if you like the looks (if you already have ascended armour/weapons).

I think the real problem was that they were so afraid of it getting out of control and the process of acquiring said ascended weapons and armor becoming to trivial and easy that they made it so a large portion of players would find it overly time consuming to acquire. They overshot in my opinion, but perhaps that’s just me.

INSANE amount of materials needed for this, People at anet have no clue what makes a game interesting.

Squee Squashington.5189:

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

Goblin.5987:

I agree that this is nothing more than a gear grind. Right now it is ascended armor, soon it will probably be Legendary. Just like the weapons. Whats next Godly weapons?.

Legendary is the same stats as the highest possible item. So, a legendary weapon has the stats of an ascended weapon and a legendary armour would have the same stats as ascended armour. Thus only worth getting if you like the looks (if you already have ascended armour/weapons).

I think the real problem was that they were so afraid of it getting out of control and the process of acquiring said ascended weapons and armor becoming to trivial and easy that they made it so a large portion of players would find it overly time consuming to acquire. They overshot in my opinion, but perhaps that’s just me.

They should have removed the extra stats, and just created another version of exotic, with an extra slot of that resistance stuff…

aspirine.6852:

INSANE amount of materials needed for this

Especially compared to the gain.
Again, with ascended armor, the gain is so small, I don’t think it’s worth the money and the time crafting them.

QuiroN.9758:

You know.. I have a family and a full time job, and like video games. I decided to get this game cause it was supposed to be balanced. Your win/lose situation on WvWvW (I don’t play dungeons) would depend on player’s ability, not on gear.

Now all this craze about making ascended armors and weapons. I definitive DON"T have the time to farm stuff and laurels and bla bla bla don’t know what other stuff needed to make a set or a weapon. Even the hardcore gamer’s that can have the time to farm are complaining about the difficulty and the TIME to getting the mats.

Soon, lots of people that can afford to play this game all day, will have ascended stuff vs the normal players that the most they can afford is exotic.

This game is just becoming like the rest of online FARMING video games. If I wanted to do hardcore farming, I would play Farmville, for Christ’s sake.

First, your win/lose situation in WvW depends on numbers, then skill/knowledge of class(es), then the gear comparison of one rarity.

Second, don’t say you don’t have the time to farm. Everyone that logs in has time to gain materials. You’re simply preferring to do something else other than directly gaining the materials. As a “casual gamer”, you just have to accept that things will come to you slower than those “hard core gamers”. They got Exotics well before you did. The “I’d rather do something that doesn’t grant ascended gear, so no one should have it” bit is just selfish and goes against the other phrase the anti-ascended crowd loves – “play the game how you want”. Sometimes getting things you want requires doing things you don’t like. In this case, the ends justify the means.

Third, so far this is in no way a “gear treadmill”. We don’t need higher tier gear to progress in the game. We don’t need T1 gear to do T2 content, then T2 gear to do T3 content, etc. We don’t have a whole new level cap that makes our current level gear ineffective. We have content that can be done in any tier gear, higher tiers only make it easier.

The only content we have that has any sort of gear grind to it is Fractals of the Mists – and they were kind enough to separate that grind to it’s own little section where it cannot effect others. The infusion slots and the ability to create higher resistance infusions is all that we have to treadmill. And that is only really necessary for difficulties 51+, so they were even kind enough to give us a head start on content they have yet to introduce.

I know of no other game that lets it’s players work on preparing for future challenges. Everywhere else they make us wait for the challenge then struggle to get through it, and repeat (bam! treadmill). This thought goes for the rest of the ascended crafting process, they used mostly existing materials that we’ve seen all this time and only added a few new ones – and those new ones they put in as rewards for things we’ve already been doing.

The only thing against ascended crafting is the daily time gate. But it’s still not a grind to hit a crafting station and do a couple crafts for a few seconds.

Lastly, I’ll be sure to tell the people that I know that do play Farmville that they’re considered “hardcore video game farmers”.

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

Legendary is the same stats as the highest possible item. So, a legendary weapon has the stats of an ascended weapon and a legendary armour would have the same stats as ascended armour. Thus only worth getting if you like the looks (if you already have ascended armour/weapons).

You forget that you can infinitely change the stats on a legendary weapon.
A legendary armor would most likely have the same feature, which I think is worth a lot.

Zanshin.5379:

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

Legendary is the same stats as the highest possible item. So, a legendary weapon has the stats of an ascended weapon and a legendary armour would have the same stats as ascended armour. Thus only worth getting if you like the looks (if you already have ascended armour/weapons).

You forget that you can infinitely change the stats on a legendary weapon.
A legendary armor would most likely have the same feature, which I think is worth a lot.

True… But it doesn’t give you an advantage when you’re already fighting somebody. The stats would still be at the same level.

Again, the main characteristic that people mention about Guid Wars franchise, is the balance of the game. Not a grind fest like others MMO. No monthly fees. That’s what made the game stand out from the rest MMO.

Playing with armor and stuff feel almost like modding. Everybody has the same stats, the difference may lie on the diferent armor pieces, traits you choose and upgrades mixes, until you find the perfect stats for your play style (condition damage, or stealth based, maybe full dps or a tank).

And I’m talking abour WvW, where you play with other real players. That’s why I keep mention about balance. For dungeons, and PvE, I don’t mind if people want to have The Armor of The Tricolor God of Evermore.

Heck, I don’t even mind about Legendary weapons in WvW (even that those are out of reach for me) . They look cool and the raise in stats is not that big, and it’s just one item. I don’t mind about the ascended trinkets (that gives more room to play with stats) available to WvW players that can be exchanged with stuff you earn PLAYING WvW.

But now, were talking about a full set of armor, a full set of weapons, a full set of trinkets, and full set of infusions. The combination of all that, definitive, will give an advantage in WvW, on one vs one and zergs. And the hardcore players that have lots of free time will get those, AND enter WvW.

And if gear would not make a difference, between been alive or death on the floor all the time, I would just enter with greens, blues or even rares to WvW.

That’s what I mean.

And about the “Farmville” comment, I was being sarcastic.

How do you know you don’t have time to farm for it if you don’t know what it takes. I don’t really count the TP as farming in anyway.

I play a ranger (lol) in wvw and I usually end up making money on bags/random gathering. Unless your idea of playing wvw is perma scout i have no idea what you are complaining about other than anet didn’t mail you a set of ascended when it was released.

The stat difference between Ascended armor and Exotic armor is hardly anything, the only good reason I could think of to craft Ascended armor is if you’re playing extremely high level fractals where you need as much agony resistance as you can get.

You stated that you don’t do dungeons so I assume you don’t do fractals, the ascended armor is not going to make or break a fight in WvW, especially if you’re in a zerg with 30 other players you will see no difference at all.

Even in solo 1v1 fights if the opponent has ascended armor and you have exotic armor it is still completely possible to beat them, so long as you know how to play your class as this game is more about skill rather then stats.

froacus.6892:

Lord Kuru.3685:

Why are you acting so entitled? Why in the world would you think that you should be able to have Best-in-Slot gear by the time you reach level 80? /s

i dont know that the sentiment the OP is expressing is entitlement. at least, thats not how i took it.

ANET and the guild wars franchise has always taken the stand that their games are not a gear grind (grind and grind to get the best gear which offers significant advantages to those with over those without). What the OP is saying (IMO) is that they feel ascended gear DOES offer a significant advantage. And that for most, that advantage is out of reach.

I also didn’t take the OPs statements as “entitled”….just a bit whinny.

I think the assumption that ANet implied there would never be ANY gear grind is misquoted and not entirely true. I’ve always taken their “no grind needed” statements to mean just that…..you don’t NEED to grind to play the game (and in my honest opinion, you do not). I’m not sure how ANY MMO would sustain itself without some level of available grind for those that WANT to have a long term goal but I tend to dislike the term GRIND being used for that as if I ever feel that I am being forced to do a task to accomplish something, I’m not going to do it (I have enough of a JOB in RL).

Here’s how I see the current Ascended equipment:

• Weapons – these can present an advantage with certain builds, but are not overall a significant advantage (theoretical numbers being tossed about are exaggerated on both sides of the argument). They are a desirable upgrade for many and are a solid long term goal. While the do present a significant effort to craft, it is possible for the casual player (I fall into that category….on the hardcore end of the spectrum) to obtain at least a few as a reasonable long term goal.
• Armor – From the numbers presented, the advantage here is negligible except for high end fractals (due to potential AR increases). Obtaining a full set is not far from pursuing a Legendary so it IS a significant long term goal and NOT something the average casual player will want to pursue (I certainly have no plans to go after one…..much less a set for each of my 8 characters).
• Trinkets – These can be obtained by any casual player (that does the dailies / monthlies), but do take some time and effort. Not sure how Ascended Jewelry crafting will effect this (or if it will). These DO present some significant stat increases, but nothing that cannot be done without. It is currently a valid long term goal for casual players.

From my view, none of the Ascended gear is required to play high end zones, Dungeons (sans high level Fractals) or even WvW (tho roamers could benefit more than most other). It’s a valid long term goal and while I don’t doubt some “exclusion” may present itself in party required aspects of the game, those doing so are being unreasonable as the advantage is negligible when compared to the skill (or lack of skill) the player brings with them. Another party with less narrow minded players will always be available to join eventually.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Wetpaw.3487:

This is why we have an option to buy ingame gold & pay your way to 500 crafting plus ascended gear. Comes down to either you have time to play the game or pay the game, choice is yours.

And this is where you go wrong, but it is a common mistake people make when they assume that they can just pay their way into acquiring all needed ascended gear.

Ascended gear crafting recipes are designed in such a way that there 2 major components. 1 major component can be paid through with lots of gold. The other major component are account-bound items like the vision crystals and its account-bound ingredients. These can never be bought, so you have to grind for those, no way out. This is why ANet described ascended gear as being a “time-gated” reward.

You’re right, I assumed he would play some portion of the game to attain those materials. The easiest mats needed to craft too.

Lesser/reg Vision Crystal
Skill points- Just play the way you do.
Laurels- Just play the way you do. Recipe.
Dragonite/Empyreal/Bloodstone- Can all be attained by some of the easiest content ingame. World bosses, WvW, JP
Obsidian-Just play the way you do, w/multiple different ways to buy.

With GW2stuff overlay, you can knock out most world bosses, daily, & LA JP’s within a hour. The rest can be attained through gold. Like many we put aside other activities ingame when Anet first mentioned Ascended, and started farming (above mentioned) for Armor/Weapons as soon as ascended weapons were released.

This is a MMO, not a console rpg. This is not Guild Wars 1, I wonder how many times the devs have to tell players this to get through.

If you want to play a game where everyone is equal MMO’s are not your kind of game, and should start looking elsewhere. MMO’s can be played as a “casual” just don’t expect to be top tier best in slot.

Wetpaw.3487:

DarkSpirit.7046:

Wetpaw.3487:

This is why we have an option to buy ingame gold & pay your way to 500 crafting plus ascended gear. Comes down to either you have time to play the game or pay the game, choice is yours.

And this is where you go wrong, but it is a common mistake people make when they assume that they can just pay their way into acquiring all needed ascended gear.

Ascended gear crafting recipes are designed in such a way that there 2 major components. 1 major component can be paid through with lots of gold. The other major component are account-bound items like the vision crystals and its account-bound ingredients. These can never be bought, so you have to grind for those, no way out. This is why ANet described ascended gear as being a “time-gated” reward.

You’re right, I assumed he would play some portion of the game to attain those materials. The easiest mats needed to craft too.

Lesser/reg Vision Crystal
Skill points- Just play the way you do.
Laurels- Just play the way you do. Recipe.
Dragonite/Empyreal/Bloodstone- Can all be attained by some of the easiest content ingame. World bosses, WvW, JP
Obsidian-Just play the way you do, w/multiple different ways to buy.

With GW2stuff overlay, you can knock out most world bosses, daily, & LA JP’s within a hour. The rest can be attained through gold. Like many we put aside other activities ingame when Anet first mentioned Ascended, and started farming (above mentioned) for Armor/Weapons as soon as ascended weapons were released.

This is a MMO, not a console rpg. This is not Guild Wars 1, I wonder how many times the devs have to tell players this to get through.

If you want to play a game where everyone is equal MMO’s are not your kind of game, and should start looking elsewhere. MMO’s can be played as a “casual” just don’t expect to be top tier best in slot.

Yes getting all the account-bound materials over a period of time is not hard as long as there are people zerking with you. But it still requires a substantial time investment over repeated content

doesn't it?

being a more casual gamer myself, playing alts too (omg:)): in WvW 1v1 is more about skill.
some are better and many are worse – you still win fights and loose fights.
If you get caught by too many you die anyways, Ascended or no.
So: do not worry, play your game and enjoy it the pace you want to go.
I have one char that has three Ascended trinkets and one that has two, the rest is still exotic or rare.
It works fine, really.

With every alt I start with rare at lvl 80 in WvW and each alt has to fund its own equippment, but they do get somewhere in time. And till then you learn how to play better

Cu on the battlefield!

To the OP, I’ll explain it. Anet has figured out their endgame. They introduce a new level of gear that barely increases stats, but knowing that mmo min/maxers won’t be able to resist farming/buying the new gear. Then every few months they add a “balance” patch that resets the meta. This, in turn, will force all the ocd min/maxers who are fully decked out in their gear to spend another couple of months refarming everything. Then they’ll spend another month thinking they’re awesome until the next meta reset occurs. The good news for you is, all you really need are the trinkets, and maybe a weapon or 2 if you’re a power dps class. If you’re condition, like my engy, all you really need are trinkets. Full ascended weapons and armor for my engy would only make my bleeds tick for 2 additional dmg per bleed per tick. That’s hardly worth the time/investment when I know the meta will be reset in a few months. As a bonus, all these guys leveling their crafting to 500 have caused the prices of exotics to drop as well. The hardest part is convincing yourself that you don’t need ascended.

It’s a total 36 point gain over exotics of the same type.

If all of it was power and you had 2500 power it would be 1.44%

That’s not even the case it’s 14 points for Primary so 2500 is a .56% increase.
if your secondary stat is 2000 it will get a .56% increase.

All these panties in a wad for that ?

Dasboba.1652:

The hardest part is convincing yourself that you don’t need ascended.

You win the prize. This is ALL it comes down to. If you’re are stressing, you’re not having fun. You don’t need it. You really don’t. Breathe and accept.

Some people can’t even afford Exotics. So Casuals should be thankful for being geared in all Exotics in the first place.

Smooth Penguin.5294:

Some people can’t even afford Exotics. So Casuals should be thankful for being geared in all Exotics in the first place.

Exotics are not difficult nor overly expensive to obtain with more than enough sources available. I have 8 characters (6 at 80) and NONE of them have ALL Exotics (tho I’m working on it). I have a few that are pretty close (but I refuse to craft Exotic Jewelry when Ascended are obtainable and Jewelry to 500 has yet to be released.). A couple are still in full RARE armor and are just fine for most PVE situations.

That’s true Grimm. However, the complainers are forgetting this, as all they see is the shiny at the end of their tunnel vision. They all want the best stuff, but when the requirements are too high, they get mad. Kind of like wanting that Ford Mustang, but wanting to pay only what they can afford to get it, not the sticker price. Or wanting a Louis Vuitton purse for the same price as a generic Walmart bag.

Bottom line, players can’t have the best of both worlds. Play within your means, and buy when you can afford. If being Casual means they have limited access to content, find ways to make more time to play this game.

QuiroN.9758:

You know.. I have a family and a full time job, and like video games. I decided to get this game cause it was supposed to be balanced. Your win/lose situation on WvWvW (I don’t play dungeons) would depend on player’s ability, not on gear.

Now all this craze about making ascended armors and weapons. I definitive DON"T have the time to farm stuff and laurels and bla bla bla don’t know what other stuff needed to make a set or a weapon. Even the hardcore gamer’s that can have the time to farm are complaining about the difficulty and the TIME to getting the mats.

Soon, lots of people that can afford to play this game all day, will have ascended stuff vs the normal players that the most they can afford is exotic.

This game is just becoming like the rest of online FARMING video games. If I wanted to do hardcore farming, I would play Farmville, for Christ’s sake.

I have 2 kids and a full time job and I have 5 legendaries…..