Guild Wars 2

And the addition of the 3 upcoming fractals provides the perfect opportunity to fix many of the issues we have been dealing with for almost 9 months now. With dungeons also undergoing reward revamps, fractals shouldn’t be left out on its own again, since it can be some of the most challenging content in the game.

Here’s a few of the thing I think Anet should look at in order to make fractals a more appealing experience.

Coins
Dungeons are receiving an overhaul to how it rewards gold to the players. Fractals has always fallen behind in this respect, since none of the bosses ever dropped silver, and there is no monetary reward for doing fractals besides the Bag of Coin that gave 2s.

Instead, there should be a reward for completing fractals based on the difficulty of fractal you are tackling.

• 5s per level of fractal you are attempting should be rewarded after the 3rd fractal
• 20s per tier of fractal should be rewarded upon the death of the Maw

This would provide the badly needed scaling reward structure that fractals is currently missing. For example:

• At level 10, you receive 50s (for lvl10) + 40s (for Maw T2) for a total of 90s
• At level 26, you receive 1g30s + 60s for a total of 1g90s
• At level 48, you receive 2g40s + 1g for a total of 3g40s
• At level 80, you receive 4g + 1g80s for a total of 5g80s

The reward would be similar to dungeons, becoming more rewarding as the content becomes more difficult (and also longer). Bear in mind that runs often take 1hr-3hrs+ in PuGs, and normally around an hour in optimized groups, I feel this gold amount is fair without detracting from dungeons.

The Level Cap
The hard cap at 50 needs to go. Good thing that there are a lot of ascended slots that enable it to be raised. Currently, the Amulet and Accessories have no option to add built in agony resistance, and ascended armors and weapons are on the way with the 500 crafting system. It makes no sense for this cap to remain in place at this point.

New Tiers of Mist Essence
For use in future and revamped rewards.

• 1-9: Vial
• 10-19: Glob
• 20-39: Shard
• 40-59: Core
• 60-79: Pure Shard
• 80+: Pure Core

Poor Rewards from Chests
A similar problem to the problem faced in dungeons, the chests you get for killing bosses aren’t very rewarding (blues and greens and maybe a rare). Something that many people don’t pick up right now are non-agony infusions. How about giving them a chance to drop from chests.

• 1-26: +5 AR infusions drop
• 20-46: +4 random stat, +5 AR infusions drop
• 40+: +5 random stat, +5 AR infusions drop

And possibly, with a cap increase, higher rewards could be given:

• 60+: +4 two random stats, +10 AR infusions maybe drop?

This is a very simple way to give some greater rewards without much threat to any sort of balance, especially since the stats will be random without being so rare as to be frustrating, and can easily replace another infusion.

Fractal Weapons
Since fractal weapons require two RNG rolls, they cause some of the most frustrating experiences for skilled fractal runners. Someone who is completely familiar with and skilled enough to do 48+ is not rewarded in this aspect much more than someone who only runs 20.

There should be a way for higher level players to have some sort of reward instead of having to deal with the nightmare that is RNG.

Good thing I wrote up a recipe 8 months ago on this very issue.

In short, it would require:

• 2k fractal relics
• 20 pristine fractal relics
• 5 Cores of Mist Essence
• Some sort of T6 or T7 crafting material

As another suggestion on that thread said, perhaps salvaging an existing fractal weapon would also give you one of the parts needed.

However, leave the current RNG system in addition to this new progression system, as it is a nice bit of excitement if you manage to appease the RNG Gods and get the weapon you were working towards.

Ascended Gear Drops
These need expansion. Fractals is the only content where there is an active gear check on whether or no you have ascended items.

• 10-24: Ascended Rings
• 26-40: Infused Rings
• 30-44: Ascended Amulets
• 46-60: Infused Amulets
• 50-64: Ascended Accessories
• 66-80: Infused Accessories

Ascended Gear Salvaging
Because this will cause a backup of useless Ascended gear for some people, make ascended items salvageable.

• Item counts as an exotic for ecto calculation
• Guaranteed drop of Vial of Mists Essence
• With the new 500 crafting coming, maybe the new materials as well?

Ascended Backpieces available outside of Fractals
All current backpiece recipes require one Vial of Mist Essence. With the addition of ascended salvaging, all one would have to do is salvage another ascended item to receive the needed Vial of Mist Essence to complete their back item, totally eliminating the need for any runs of fractals whatsoever.

Additional stat allocations wouldn’t hurt either.

Bug Fixing
And Bug Fixing. Yup. Also length management. Because dredge is loooong.

What would everyone else think about some of these changes? What would you guys do differently?

sound great, hope they’ll use some of your ideas

I’m gonna go ahead tl;dr all that and say you should get a guaranteed skin if you get dredge.

i just expect if kiel wins to finally see a legendary underwater dredge.

Also i don t want stats grind stuff in fotm

No to stat infusions <.< we already have enough grinding ty.

LordByron.8369:

No to stat infusions <.< we already have enough grinding ty.

Stat infusions are already in the game, the problem is that getting them is an immense grind right now.

I love all your ideas. Bumping.

i can live with most of your suggested changes except for one: dredge fractal doesn’t need fixing, it needs to be deleted

Draugl.8079:

LordByron.8369:

No to stat infusions <.< we already have enough grinding ty.

Stat infusions are already in the game, the problem is that getting them is an immense grind right now.

I also wanted to make sure that getting them remained a bit difficult, even if the stat increase is minimal. Its a nice little reward to get out of chests that can easily just go into one of your trinkets without breaking game balance.

Funny thing is that WvWers currently best access to these +5 stat infusions, and I wanted to keep their infusions as the easier way to get them for anyone outside of fractals.

They really need to make your fractal level account wide. I have 8 80s, and it would be nice to be able to switch which class I do it on every once in a while, or switch to a particular class to help my group.

Another method for obtaining fractal weapon skins would be greatly appreciated. As well as a nice gold bag at the end like all other dungeons are getting. These two things would make fractals much more rewarding for the time spent.

MawOfMadness.5724:

They really need to make your fractal level account wide. I have 8 80s, and it would be nice to be able to switch which class I do it on every once in a while, or switch to a particular class to help my group.

This will never happen, just like wvw rank will never be account wide

Yes please. The rewards for Fractals are just stupidly terrible. CoF p1 gives you 1g+ a run, taking 10 mins, while on Fractals 79, in a veeeeeeeeery quick run taking 1h15mins you get a bunch of garbage greens. Just implement everything OP mentioned + new fractals!

Celly.5912:

Yes please. The rewards for Fractals are just stupidly terrible. CoF p1 gives you 1g+ a run, taking 10 mins, while on Fractals 79, in a veeeeeeeeery quick run taking 1h15mins you get a bunch of garbage greens. Just implement everything OP mentioned + new fractals!

Veeeeeeeeery quick run takes about 40 minutes if you get short fractals like snowblind and volcanic.

haviz.1340:

Celly.5912:

Yes please. The rewards for Fractals are just stupidly terrible. CoF p1 gives you 1g+ a run, taking 10 mins, while on Fractals 79, in a veeeeeeeeery quick run taking 1h15mins you get a bunch of garbage greens. Just implement everything OP mentioned + new fractals!

Veeeeeeeeery quick run takes about 40 minutes if you get short fractals like snowblind and volcanic.

I’d like to see you do that on level 79 :p

Celly.5912:

I’d like to see you do that on level 79 :p

I was actually talking about 79.

Lanser.8520:

Fractal Weapons
Since fractal weapons require two RNG rolls, they cause some of the most frustrating experiences for skilled fractal runners. Someone who is completely familiar with and skilled enough to do 48+ is not rewarded in this aspect much more than someone who only runs 20.

There should be a way for higher level players to have some sort of reward instead of having to deal with the nightmare that is RNG.

Good thing I wrote up a recipe 8 months ago on this very issue.

In short, it would require:

• 2k fractal relics
• 20 pristine fractal relics
• 5 Cores of Mist Essence
• Some sort of T6 or T7 crafting material

As another suggestion on that thread said, perhaps salvaging an existing fractal weapon would also give you one of the parts needed.

However, leave the current RNG system in addition to this new progression system, as it is a nice bit of excitement if you manage to appease the RNG Gods and get the weapon you were working towards.

Ascended Gear Drops
These need expansion. Fractals is the only content where there is an active gear check on whether or no you have ascended items.

• 10-24: Ascended Rings
• 26-40: Infused Rings
• 30-44: Ascended Amulets
• 46-60: Infused Amulets
• 50-64: Ascended Accessories
• 66-80: Infused Accessories

Ascended Gear Salvaging
Because this will cause a backup of useless Ascended gear for some people, make ascended items salvageable.

• Item counts as an exotic for ecto calculation
• Guaranteed drop of Vial of Mists Essence
• With the new 500 crafting coming, maybe the new materials as well?

Ascended Backpieces available outside of Fractals
All current backpiece recipes require one Vial of Mist Essence. With the addition of ascended salvaging, all one would have to do is salvage another ascended item to receive the needed Vial of Mist Essence to complete their back item, totally eliminating the need for any runs of fractals whatsoever.

Additional stat allocations wouldn’t hurt either.

Bug Fixing
And Bug Fixing. Yup. Also length management. Because dredge is loooong.

What would everyone else think about some of these changes? What would you guys do differently?

Masterfully crafted idea. Here is a bump for you.

Fractals are terrible. The rewards are dismal and the character progression path via agony resistance is horrible.

As a player that gave up after Fractal 10, I know I’m subject to the “shut up, you’re just bad” prejudice, but I don’t have friends/guildies interested in putting in the time to get the gear necessary to delve further in fractals for their paltry rewards.

The methods of obtaining agony resist are horrible and ultimately limited by rng and how lucky you are. The alternative non-rng methods are so grindy that who the kitten would even attempt making these kittening items just to go and enjoy more kittenty rng?

I have like 2 vials and over 200 fractal runs if I remember right, it’s not fair that players can just be locked out by bad rng when the only alternative is to offer up your life savings.

bravoart.5308:

Fractals are terrible. The rewards are dismal and the character progression path via agony resistance is horrible.

As a player that gave up after Fractal 10, I know I’m subject to the “shut up, you’re just bad” prejudice, but I don’t have friends/guildies interested in putting in the time to get the gear necessary to delve further in fractals for their paltry rewards.

The methods of obtaining agony resist are horrible and ultimately limited by rng and how lucky you are. The alternative non-rng methods are so grindy that who the kitten would even attempt making these kittening items just to go and enjoy more kittenty rng?

I have like 2 vials and over 200 fractal runs if I remember right, it’s not fair that players can just be locked out by bad rng when the only alternative is to offer up your life savings.

You really need 45AR on lvl 10?

haviz.1340:

bravoart.5308:

Fractals are terrible. The rewards are dismal and the character progression path via agony resistance is horrible.

As a player that gave up after Fractal 10, I know I’m subject to the “shut up, you’re just bad” prejudice, but I don’t have friends/guildies interested in putting in the time to get the gear necessary to delve further in fractals for their paltry rewards.

The methods of obtaining agony resist are horrible and ultimately limited by rng and how lucky you are. The alternative non-rng methods are so grindy that who the kitten would even attempt making these kittening items just to go and enjoy more kittenty rng?

I have like 2 vials and over 200 fractal runs if I remember right, it’s not fair that players can just be locked out by bad rng when the only alternative is to offer up your life savings.

You really need 45AR on lvl 10?

Pugs won’t take people without certain AR. Also, the people that still run fractals don’t want to go below their effective reward level, which is usually 40 or so.

AR is unobtainable/unusable without rng drops/laurels or excessive amounts of mats for recipes. It’s just not worth the time and loss of materials to make if you’re not lucky.

bravoart.5308:

Pugs won’t take people without certain AR. Also, the people that still run fractals don’t want to go below their effective reward level, which is usually 40 or so.

AR is unobtainable/unusable without rng drops/laurels or excessive amounts of mats for recipes. It’s just not worth the time and loss of materials to make if you’re not lucky.

You have very negative view on that.

bravoart.5308:

Pugs won’t take people without certain AR. Also, the people that still run fractals don’t want to go below their effective reward level, which is usually 40 or so.

V V

I think Infusions & Agony especially should just be taken back out of the game…

That’s the only revamp Fractals needs to get more people interested in doing them.
Cutting down the time a PuG has to set aside for every Frac including the “Bonus” one might help too though. …Ppl have dailies and alts to work on, other stuff to worry about… They look at this illconceived Fractal grind and just turn away instantly from it like it was chasing a Legendary.

yup AR just makes jade maw annoying. At higher levels most agony attacks would most likely kill you if you get hit before the agony starts ticking

ilr.9675:

I think Infusions & Agony especially should just be taken back out of the game…

Wukunlin.8461:

yup AR just makes jade maw annoying. At higher levels most agony attacks would most likely kill you if you get hit before the agony starts ticking

I disagree. I think Agony is an awesome game mechanic (except the way Maw uses it) and should be used by bosses outside of Fractals as well. World bosses should use agony and AR should be available outside of FOTM.

Initially, I was excited for fractals, the idea behind them sounded so appealing. Finally! there was something in GW2 that felt somewhat challenging! I pounded through them religiously for the first few weeks to get to fractal 40 only to find myself with over 400+ fractals completed, 2 bank tabs filled with infused rings I didn’t need and eventually sold for the crappy 4s they are worth, and yet I still only saw 3 fractal weapons ever: 2 harpoons and 1 rifle… on a guardian -_- thanks Anet…

I gave up. RNG to that extent is not the proper way to implement a reward system for a dungeon that had so much potential to survive in the long run.

At this point, I’m not sure if praying to the Gods will help revamp the rewards system for fractals, but something needs to change before they add more maps into it. If not, I’ll run ‘em once for the new story content, and quickly leave them to rot again once I’m done.

Sincerely,
- A disappointed fractal farmer retiree

Six.8051:

Initially, I was excited for fractals, the idea behind them sounded so appealing. Finally! there was something in GW2 that felt somewhat challenging! I pounded through them religiously for the first few weeks to get to fractal 40 only to find myself with over 400+ fractals completed, 2 bank tabs filled with infused rings I didn’t need and eventually sold for the crappy 4s they are worth, and yet I still only saw 3 fractal weapons ever: 2 harpoons and 1 rifle… on a guardian -_- thanks Anet…

I gave up. RNG to that extent is not the proper way to implement a reward system for a dungeon that had so much potential to survive in the long run.

At this point, I’m not sure if praying to the Gods will help revamp the rewards system for fractals, but something needs to change before they add more maps into it. If not, I’ll run ‘em once for the new story content, and quickly leave them to rot again once I’m done.

Sincerely,
- A disappointed fractal farmer retiree

I’m in the same boat. When they came out I rushed them like crazy. At the start it was a lot of fun because it felt like a challenge and while most people were getting on lower levels, I collected a bunch of good and devoted players around me and we kept progressing. But after a week or two, they not only became very repetitive, there was no real incentive for me to keep progressing. The rewards were not really worth it, and what was first actual different kinds of difficulty (e.g different Boss fights and mechanics) soon became a matter of different degrees of difficulty.

At first it was a matter of innovating to make progress, but because nothing essential changed you could use the same “tricks” or builds at the next difficulty level to some extent. So there was no incentive to beat the content on an intellectual and skill level, nor was there any incentive when it came to rewards. I stopped at halfway to 40 and didn’t play for over 8 months after.

I recently came back and little has changed, the rewards are still mediocre at best and to top it off the skins (one of the reasons I would actually consider “grinding” fractals) are still so RNG that getting the right one is just a cause for frustration (or a cause for joy for the lucky few).

In short, I still love how fractals made me innovate my game when it first came out, but the lack of anything similar or the lack of rewards (perhaps to make up for the first flaw) make it a stale experience after a few weeks of doing fractals. I was happy with Liadri because it offered a similar challenge as the one I had when fractals first came out.

As my topic yesterday clearly proved, anet doesnt even look at the threads. Not even the mods come and look. You are literally wasting your breath.

Now if you have any ideas on how to improve the gem store, that is an approved topic and will be responded to immediately

+1
Although maybe a little generous on the gold rewards. Afterall, Anet like to take all our gold making strategies away.

Lanser.8520:

And the addition of the 3 upcoming fractals provides the perfect opportunity to fix many of the issues we have been dealing with for almost 9 months now. With dungeons also undergoing reward revamps, fractals shouldn’t be left out on its own again, since it can be some of the most challenging content in the game.

Here’s a few of the thing I think Anet should look at in order to make fractals a more appealing experience.

Coins
Dungeons are receiving an overhaul to how it rewards gold to the players. Fractals has always fallen behind in this respect, since none of the bosses ever dropped silver, and there is no monetary reward for doing fractals besides the Bag of Coin that gave 2s.

Instead, there should be a reward for completing fractals based on the difficulty of fractal you are tackling.

• 5s per level of fractal you are attempting should be rewarded after the 3rd fractal
• 20s per tier of fractal should be rewarded upon the death of the Maw

This would provide the badly needed scaling reward structure that fractals is currently missing. For example:

• At level 10, you receive 50s (for lvl10) + 40s (for Maw T2) for a total of 90s
• At level 26, you receive 1g30s + 60s for a total of 1g90s
• At level 48, you receive 2g40s + 1g for a total of 3g40s
• At level 80, you receive 4g + 1g80s for a total of 5g80s

The reward would be similar to dungeons, becoming more rewarding as the content becomes more difficult (and also longer). Bear in mind that runs often take 1hr-3hrs+ in PuGs, and normally around an hour in optimized groups, I feel this gold amount is fair without detracting from dungeons.

The Level Cap
The hard cap at 50 needs to go. Good thing that there are a lot of ascended slots that enable it to be raised. Currently, the Amulet and Accessories have no option to add built in agony resistance, and ascended armors and weapons are on the way with the 500 crafting system. It makes no sense for this cap to remain in place at this point.

New Tiers of Mist Essence
For use in future and revamped rewards.

• 1-9: Vial
• 10-19: Glob
• 20-39: Shard
• 40-59: Core
• 60-79: Pure Shard
• 80+: Pure Core

Poor Rewards from Chests
A similar problem to the problem faced in dungeons, the chests you get for killing bosses aren’t very rewarding (blues and greens and maybe a rare). Something that many people don’t pick up right now are non-agony infusions. How about giving them a chance to drop from chests.

• 1-26: +5 AR infusions drop
• 20-46: +4 random stat, +5 AR infusions drop
• 40+: +5 random stat, +5 AR infusions drop

And possibly, with a cap increase, higher rewards could be given:

• 60+: +4 two random stats, +10 AR infusions maybe drop?

This is a very simple way to give some greater rewards without much threat to any sort of balance, especially since the stats will be random without being so rare as to be frustrating, and can easily replace another infusion.

post under “Guild Wars 2 Discussion” if you want your thread read.

Great ideas, bumping.