Guild Wars 2

I’ve accrued roughly 100 Pristine Fractal Relics, almost exclusively from doing 28, 38, and 48, with the bulk being 38. In that time, I’ve gotten 6 fractal skins, 3 of which were the Longbows (also got shield torch rifle). Hardly a solid sample size, and my luck usually sucks, but I feel this is enough to know I’m pretty screwed when it comes to getting what I actually want.

My feelings on the matter fluctuate between extreme frustration and dead inside. I know RNG sucks.

Hopefully this has been discussed before, and hopefully they are already working on a way to address the issue, but I wanted to make a thread with my idea and let others post theirs.

There needs to be a more legit way to get these skins.

X number of Pristine Fractal Relics (What do you think is a fair number here?)
1 Gift of Ascension
1 Ascended ring (possibly requiring infused ring)
1 Exotic lvl 80 weapon (the weapon u put in here will dicate what fractal weapon u get)
=Fractal weapon

What does everyone think of this MF recipe? Do you have suggestions about ways to get fractal skins?

Although I still haven’t been able to drop my desired fractal skins, I’m against the player being able to choose/craft his fractal weapon since most players would end up crafting the same GS/Staff/Daggers and it would lose the rarity of these skins.
Instead, I think a similar recipe could be made so a player could take his unwanted skins and forge another random one. Maybe something similar to this:
3-5 Shards ( or maybe keep the Core essence idea);
1 Fractal skin;
3-5 pristines; and
50-150 relics
This would result in a random fractal skin.
This mecanism would be a good way for players to use their Shards/Pristines (that most regular fractal runners have nothing to do with) and still keep it difficult to obtain your fractal skins, since not only do you have to manage to drop a fractal skin, but a continuous amount of Shards/Pristines in order to eventually get your desired skin.

I’ve put this idea in several posts regarding fractals, but I have never seen any feeback from the devs. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen any feedback from the devs in any topic related to fractal skins/pristines/shards etc.

I agree with the idea of using shards, thats better because ppl cant just grind fom 10.

but i completely disagree about the recipe yielding a random skin. that is just as bad as the current system. its all RNG and ppl will get kittened by it and rage.

10+ Pristine Fractal Relics
1 Gift of Ascension
5 Shards
1 Exotic lvl 80 weapon

Technicality-wise, random results just plainly sucks. I never really was a big fan of lottery-type rewards as the only means of acquisition. Sure, it might give a sense of suspense to some folks, but I think those types are a vast minority and generally lumped into the “hardcore of hardcores.” It might have been cool back when MMOs were new, but as I got older, I get more tired when it comes to uber-low drop rates and hoping for that “best-of-the-best-in-slot” to drop. For the sensible folks, regardless of level of core-ness, there should be a sense of progression in the form of gathering the appropriate resources in order to build something that is suitable. Legendaries, for example, could be something that could be worked on bit by bit, and eventually you’ll get one.

However, I’m always in the mindset that there could be a lore-specific reason why something is specifically random, which lessens my likelihood to rage about the situation. For example, the acquisition of Mystic Clovers since clovers generally signify an aspect of luck. Boss-specific drops might also make sense (within reason of course).

The suggested Mystic Forge recipe seems reasonable, but perhaps the precursor for the Fractal weapon should be craftable instead of just some run-of-the-mill exotic. I think it could work like this:

First, the recipe for the Fractal weapon should be purchased from the vendor for a modest amount of Mist Essence materials. You would need level 400 of a crafting discipline in order to make the first part.

Example—

Recipe: Beta Fractal Shield
+ 10 Pristine Fractal Relic
+ 200 Fractal Relics
+ 5 Vials of Condensed Mist Essence

Let’s say you gave all those materials to the vendor to purchase the recipe to make the shield. In order to make the Beta Fractal Weapon, you would need:

Beta Fractal Shield : Requires Lv. 400 Weaponsmith
+ 10 Orichalcum Shield Bosses
+ 10 Orichalcum Shield Backings
+ 5 Pristine Fractal Relics
+ 5 Globs of Coagulated Mist Essence

Then the promoted version would be the actual Fractal weapon you could get from the daily chest, but instead of hoping to be lucky, you can actually crafted it if you want.

Fractal Shield : Mystic Forge Recipe
+ 1 Beta Fractal Shield
+ 1 Gift of Ascension
+ 15 Pristine Fractal Relics
+ 15 Shards of Crystallized Mist Essence

I’m sure the numbers could be tweaked a little bit so that the weapon requires some degree of time and effort to obtain the materials to craft one, but at least there is a sense of progress towards building one and one should expect to see results upon reaching completion of the desired Fractal weapon.

as you may know:
there are craft only weapons and drop only weapons…..

Why should they change that because some players wants some rare skins…

And why on earth they even t wants them ubercheap?

Fotm skins are currently the ONLY rare skin players can get without spending tons of gold.

Random for SKINS is good.
Random for TIERS is bad.

Also try to compare the cost of rare skins…..
See infinite light, whisperblade….etc etc etc.

they costs more than 100 G to craft

And that would clearly kill fotm …because actually the only reward you can get is a worthless skin that at least has some unique look.

They just did it good when they said they’ll never be upgraded…they will just be EXOTIC skins forever, nothing to do with legendaries and stuff.

P.S. imho changing skins would be good as long as you need at least 25 pristines in the recipe for another random (that is something like the chances to get a skin from daily chests).

Random for SKINS is bad

afaik fractal skins are the first skins in the game that can only be achieved via random chance. every other skin u can just buy/craft

consider someone who thinks x fractal skin is awesome and REALLY wants it. they start running dailies for the sole purpose of finding this skin. they can get really lucky and get it on their first try, or they could still be trying after 10000 dailies and 15000 hours.

the drop rate is very low, and even when u are rewarded with a skin, there are a bunch of skins, so getting the one you want is a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction.

there should be a sense of progress, like with all things. spend 1000 hours farming for dusk? dont get it? after 1000 hours u have the money to just buy it. NBD. fractal skin under same circumstance? U KITTENED SON.

ppl who think the current system is fine fall into one of three categories
1. they dont want the skins anyway
2. they got very lucky and already have the skins they want
3. they havent done many fractal runs trying to get the skin they want