People keep complaining about raid/fractals group demanding things like specific
meta builds, full ascended sets and legendary insights.
The main claim against these demands in that they lead to new people not reaching
the threshold to start joining these groups, and make the given content some sort of
an exclusive club.
I’d like to try and explain the reasoning behind this approach:
There are several reasons for players to ask other players to pass a threshold (gear-related or otherwise):
1) They’re very experienced with the content, and have become bored with it, and thus
want to complete it quickly to get the rewards and move on. So they need a proper party.
2) They consider the content very difficult and truly believe the threshold is required. So they need a proper party.
3) They see everyone else are asking for it, so they consider it necessary. So they demand a proper party.
I find these reasons legitimate in every way – players want to make sure they succeed, and/or maintain their productivity.
There’s nothing truly wrong with them.
But why ask for these things? The main argument against them is that these demand don’t reflect the player’s skill, or actual experience in any way.
While that may be true, they provide a safeguard of sort – a player may not know how to properly play their class (which is inexcusable), but if they manage to out-damage other players with their own un-optimized rotation due to enhanced gear, consumables and other buffs, it doesn’t matter.
In a utopia you’d ask a player if they’ve done/beaten the encounter before, and they’ll respond truthfully.
But like House said – people lie. and therefore, a player’s experience is immeasurable until the actual encounter – when it’s too late.
So while you may consider those videos of 5-man VG kills as a sort of proof that raids don’t require fully ascended gear for all 10 players, do consider that those players have only managed to do those things after dozens of runs and knowing the encounter top to bottom. And therefore have optimized their damage/healing output to a level where ascended gear/other buffs are optional.
Since new players have only started doing this content, they should compensate for their lack of experience with the best gear they can get to meet the group’s requirements.
The same thing stands for things such as Legendary Insights, titles and AP.
while those may not be truly a proof of success (they’re bought frequently on LFG),
they do sometimes provide as a safeguard of a player’s prowess. And so ensure performance.
HOWEVER – there’s a simple better solution:
Instead of trying to join these groups with outrageous demands, start your own group! Experiment, be more accepting than the other groups.
I assure you, your group will fill itself very fast.
Play your own way! try your own special builds!
You can’t force ANet to force other players (or force other players yourselves at that matter), to accept other players to their group.
Luckily, starting a group/lfg/10-man squad isn’t locked behind a 300g comm tag.
so, just do your own thing!
Disclaimer – I’ve been playing since launch, but only killed the VG for the first time yesterday, and even that with exotic armor (ascended weps and trinkets but still) and pugs who accepted me.