Guild Wars 2

One topic that seems to be getting overlooked is the time investment to get these laurels and by extension ascended gear. A casual player will want to log in and play whatever aspect of the game he or she wants. A casual player doesn’t want to be faced with a chore that has to be completed every day. Another topic that keeps getting brought up is that casuals don’t need ascended gear. This is a terrible argument because everyone deserves to have top tier gear in this game. One of the design philosophies was that players would not need to endlessly grind to get the best gear. With the current implementation of the laurels it takes a month to get each item. That is certainly a grind and is made worse by requiring daily participation. A simple change would be to make ascended gear craftable thus removing the chore associated with the daily.

Spencer.1386:

One topic that seems to be getting overlooked is the time investment to get these laurels and by extension ascended gear. A casual player will want to log in and play whatever aspect of the game he or she wants. A casual player doesn’t want to be faced with a chore that has to be completed every day. Another topic that keeps getting brought up is that casuals don’t need ascended gear. This is a terrible argument because everyone deserves to have top tier gear in this game. One of the design philosophies was that players would not need to endlessly grind to get the best gear. With the current implementation of the laurels it takes a month to get each item. That is certainly a grind and is made worse by requiring daily participation. A simple change would be to make ascended gear craftable thus removing the chore associated with the daily.

Grinding for a month for 1 piece of the best gear in game. I have no words to express how very much I wish EVERY game was this “difficult” in this aspect.

Geotherma.2395:

Grinding for a month for 1 piece of the best gear in game. I have no words to express how very much I wish EVERY game was this “difficult” in this aspect.

I have great appreciation for the epic feeling of working toward something for a long time and finally achieving it. The problem with your ideology is that it doesn’t fit in this game. Guild Wars 1 was never about getting better gear, the stats where all the same. It was about getting cooler looking gear and ascended gear is better. Ascended gear has higher stats which gives an advantage to players who where hardcore enough to get it. I’m not saying grind is bad, I enjoyed my 6 years in World of Warcraft. I’m just saying that grind wasn’t intended to be a part of this game.
“Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games.”
- Mike Obrien

Yes but the stats are negligible, and the “shiny” stuff is optional. As far as stats a good group can do anything in game with a decent set of rares. I haven’t experienced a problem with playing with story gear for 50 levels. The only thing I’ve had trouble with is mobs that are 3+ above my level. In most MMO’s you have a decent chance to kill them, in GW2 if your fighting something 4 or 5 above you, most likely its taking half your health per hit lol

I believe they are trying to appease both sides, the casuals and the hard-cores. It will never be perfect, but it takes time to achieve a polished product. And at 7 months (?) I feel they are doing pretty well at adjusting the game to fit everyone’s liking as best they can. They can’t make it 100% perfect for 100% of the people 100% of the time. That’s why there is more than 1 MMO out there. TESO,FFXIV, and the new Destiny games all look interesting. And I’m sure playing all of them casually could please any player, if done correctly. But again, for 1 MMO to fit everyone it is quite an impossible thing. I love strawberry icecream, but my wife doesn’t. But they sell Neapolitan at the store, so it works for everyone.

Spencer.1386:

Geotherma.2395:

Grinding for a month for 1 piece of the best gear in game. I have no words to express how very much I wish EVERY game was this “difficult” in this aspect.

I have great appreciation for the epic feeling of working toward something for a long time and finally achieving it. The problem with your ideology is that it doesn’t fit in this game. Guild Wars 1 was never about getting better gear, the stats where all the same. It was about getting cooler looking gear and ascended gear is better. Ascended gear has higher stats which gives an advantage to players who where hardcore enough to get it. I’m not saying grind is bad, I enjoyed my 6 years in World of Warcraft. I’m just saying that grind wasn’t intended to be a part of this game.
“Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games.”
- Mike Obrien

Your logic fails in this respect: You don’t need to be hardcore to get ascended items.

You need to be hardcore to get the items quickly.

I’m taking my sweet time with these items, they aren’t required for me to enjoy the game. If you need maximum stats to enjoy the game then you’ve got the problem, not the game.

Mackdose.6504:

Spencer.1386:

Geotherma.2395:

Grinding for a month for 1 piece of the best gear in game. I have no words to express how very much I wish EVERY game was this “difficult” in this aspect.

I have great appreciation for the epic feeling of working toward something for a long time and finally achieving it. The problem with your ideology is that it doesn’t fit in this game. Guild Wars 1 was never about getting better gear, the stats where all the same. It was about getting cooler looking gear and ascended gear is better. Ascended gear has higher stats which gives an advantage to players who where hardcore enough to get it. I’m not saying grind is bad, I enjoyed my 6 years in World of Warcraft. I’m just saying that grind wasn’t intended to be a part of this game.
“Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games.”
- Mike Obrien

Your logic fails in this respect: You don’t need to be hardcore to get ascended items.

You need to be hardcore to get the items quickly.

I’m taking my sweet time with these items, they aren’t required for me to enjoy the game. If you need maximum stats to enjoy the game then you’ve got the problem, not the game.

^ Sweet Dwayna, this ^

The “pressure” to get these things in as little a time as the game allows is self-imposed. Once you decide, “I’ll get these when and if I get them.” the grind disappears.

Geotherma.2395:

Spencer.1386:

One topic that seems to be getting overlooked is the time investment to get these laurels and by extension ascended gear. A casual player will want to log in and play whatever aspect of the game he or she wants. A casual player doesn’t want to be faced with a chore that has to be completed every day. Another topic that keeps getting brought up is that casuals don’t need ascended gear. This is a terrible argument because everyone deserves to have top tier gear in this game. One of the design philosophies was that players would not need to endlessly grind to get the best gear. With the current implementation of the laurels it takes a month to get each item. That is certainly a grind and is made worse by requiring daily participation. A simple change would be to make ascended gear craftable thus removing the chore associated with the daily.

Grinding for a month for 1 piece of the best gear in game. I have no words to express how very much I wish EVERY game was this “difficult” in this aspect.

I do my daily regardlessly. The exp and karma is amazing.

It’s more like hand out. Even if you just wvw, you should get 5 event done easy, and the rest just take a little time.

I love this game. But this game is just too shallow because Anet have to cater to the casual players.

Like I said before, they might as well change the daily to logon, logoff and walk 3 step.

Spencer.1386:

Geotherma.2395:

Grinding for a month for 1 piece of the best gear in game. I have no words to express how very much I wish EVERY game was this “difficult” in this aspect.

I have great appreciation for the epic feeling of working toward something for a long time and finally achieving it. The problem with your ideology is that it doesn’t fit in this game. Guild Wars 1 was never about getting better gear, the stats where all the same. It was about getting cooler looking gear and ascended gear is better. Ascended gear has higher stats which gives an advantage to players who where hardcore enough to get it. I’m not saying grind is bad, I enjoyed my 6 years in World of Warcraft. I’m just saying that grind wasn’t intended to be a part of this game.
“Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games.”
- Mike Obrien

Great post completely agree, Guildwars 1 got it right, it fitted the Casual and Hardcore spectrum perfectly..

Guildwars 2 has continually and continues too dip into only the hardcore side since 15th nov…their Casual parts were originally in this game but has since been removed, nerfed and over looked since..

Your quote at the end always makes me laugh..

so do you guys even play the game?

you guys act like daily is some sort of grind. I’m quite speechless.

If your leveling, you should do your daily regardless, the exp is great, the karma is great.

If you only wvw, you should get the 5 event done, which is the only thing on the daily list that actually take some time.

And if mmorpg isn’t about grinding gear. Why are you “grinding” gear. You should just care about playing and not worry about those insignificant amount of stats increase.

Because those stas increase is so insignificant that it doesnt matter. I mean I’m qutie hardcore and I do play video game way too much. If I dont’ even care, I dont’ understand why people hardly plays care.

If we are only talking about the PvE (not including dungeons) the game is very casual friendly. You can slowly wander around and level up as time permits and take part in (or not) in the very short ‘dynamic events’.

The Rare, Exotic and Accended gear tiers are not required to level 1-80.

There are very very few games published that have any appeal to a real ‘hard core’ gamer as 95% of the gaming public are not ‘hard core enough’ to play them, no studio/publisher is stupid enough to limit themselves to only 5% of the market and even fewer of the players could cough up enough ca$h to buy it to cover the costs to develop it.

Ever wonder about the comments about Anets QA department having ‘difficulty’ with different sections of the game? While the general assumption is that they are ‘lame’, my guess is that they use level equal toons/gear (with a mixture of white/blue/green) to assess the content and not Lvl80 toons outfitted with the best gear available in the game.

(facepalm)

laokoko.7403:

maybe they should change daily to weekly and reward 7 laurel for it. Some people can’t play 30 minutes a day every day. But they may be able to play acouple hours a week.

yeah, i believe the addition of laurels in dailies pretty much bothers some “casual” gamers and become a bit worried that they might get left behind if they don’t log in everyday to complete a daily. a weekly option or another something to catch up with some laurels would be very nice indeed.

Getting my first ascended item is a one year project with my current playtime and the way im using it in-game (3-4 laurels/month).

So, between the 2 months to get an exotic set and the 12 years for a full ascended gear, something went very very wrong with Arenanet.

Meh, I think those saying ’’casual have no longer business in gw2" are correct.

No need to pay 50 buck to be outgeared, any Korean f2p grinder will do the trick.

Rukia.4802:

There is a problem when you can gear up in WoW 50x faster than you can get full exotics in GW2.

For a game that isn’t supposed to have grind it sure has the most I’ve ever seen. So… from what I’ve gathered in the replies in this thread, as long as the journey isn’t difficult it’s considered casual? So even if it takes you months to get exotics that’s casual? Lol.

I would consider myself a casual player (week nights after kids go to bed very rarely weekends) and I have 2 80s full exotic and a 77 with a full set of gear waiting in the bank. My theif has all but two crafting professions capped. Also have a ton of wvw badges and karma jugs sitting in bank. So I have a hard time seeing what your having a problem with.

I normally play my “main” game a lot, but in GW2 I can’t do it.

When I try to play GW2 this much, I don’t see why continue to play after the lvl 40~60. You only get some boring Traits and items that don’t change the character.

I have a 63 and I have all the skills I want and the Main Trait that change something (Granadier) and he is complete idle. I make other 3 chars and I still don’t see why go so far.

IMO: The game need more skills. Maybe some evolution of the actual skills to pick lvl 60~80 and need more type of weapons, much more weapons, for the player test a lot and have more options when he want to change.

With my necro, I have 3 options of main weapon, but I don’t like the Dagger, leaving only 2 options and I think that Staff very boring to use. I have only a option: use the Axe as main and Staff in my secondary limiting a lot my game.

I really love this game, but this limitations destroyed the game for me.

MIMIMI change the weapons all the time blah blah blah. Man its only 3 options.

Rukia.4802:

There is a problem when you can gear up in WoW 50x faster than you can get full exotics in GW2.

For a game that isn’t supposed to have grind it sure has the most I’ve ever seen. So… from what I’ve gathered in the replies in this thread, as long as the journey isn’t difficult it’s considered casual? So even if it takes you months to get exotics that’s casual? Lol.

That’s a WoW problem, not a GW2 problem. Exotics are readily available and take minimal grinding to attain. Unless of course, you want very specific exotics like dungeon armor. In that case, yes, you have to grind. But that’s your choice because it’s not the stats you’re after, it’s the appearance. Otherwise, you can buy full exotics from the TP for a fair price in gold, or craft them yourself. If it is indeed 50x easier to obtain the equivalent of exotics in WoW now, compared to this game, WoW is way kittened up.

GW2 has a very simple and relatively short path to the top gear in the game. And I frankly don’t believe you that it’s become that easy in WoW. Top gear comes from raids and gearing from raids depends on the RNG (so far as I remember it from a few years back). That’s not the case in this game. There is no loot lottery — unless you want legendaries. And since legendaries aren’t exotics, that’s a complaint for a different thread.

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

Well can’t everything be for everyone.

Blacklight.2871:

Rukia.4802:

There is a problem when you can gear up in WoW 50x faster than you can get full exotics in GW2.

For a game that isn’t supposed to have grind it sure has the most I’ve ever seen. So… from what I’ve gathered in the replies in this thread, as long as the journey isn’t difficult it’s considered casual? So even if it takes you months to get exotics that’s casual? Lol.

That’s a WoW problem, not a GW2 problem. Exotics are readily available and take minimal grinding to attain. Unless of course, you want very specific exotics like dungeon armor. In that case, yes, you have to grind. But that’s your choice because it’s not the stats you’re after, it’s the appearance. Otherwise, you can buy full exotics from the TP for a fair price in gold, or craft them yourself. If it is indeed 50x easier to obtain the equivalent of exotics in WoW now, compared to this game, WoW is way kittened up.

GW2 has a very simple and relatively short path to the top gear in the game. And I frankly don’t believe you that it’s become that easy in WoW. Top gear comes from raids and gearing from raids depends on the RNG (so far as I remember it from a few years back). That’s not the case in this game. There is no loot lottery — unless you want legendaries. And since legendaries aren’t exotics, that’s a complaint for a different thread.

Actually, that’s not entirely true. In order to get the stat combination I wanted for my Necromancer (Rabid), I had to gather up dungeon tokens from specific dungeons. Rabid sets are not offered anywhere else in the game.

OP posts short two line sentence about a subject sure to get people talking. OP does not post again, 111 posts appear in under 2 hours. Topic will probably become 12 pages or more.

/handclap for OP
Bait set and taken.

As a casual myself, I find this game INCREDIBLY WELL GEARED TOWARDS CASUALS.

This game is far from Anti Casual, the closes you get to an endgame is the upper FOTM, all else is doable with normal Mastercraft and Rare gear. Want Exotic and don’t want to pay. You can do your dailies and do the DE and get enough karma to buy a full set in about a month. Most exotic weapons from dungeons only takes 5 to 8 runs to get enough tokens. Don’t like the rune, by another which is what I did for the AC bow.

I think Gear Gating is the death nell to a casul game. I do think that the best gear should be available to everyone, however, the effort that you put into the game should be proportional to the time it takes to get the better gear. More effort should mean faster gear up, less effort means it is going to take longer, but you will get there in th end.

It amazes me the number of “I got mine” groupies in these forums these days that continue in their illusion that nothing’s wrong. Ascended is far from casual and very much a grind, don’t kid yourselves LOL

Not quite as bad as the legendary grind (which they still haven’t adjusted another thing on the list of promises made never delivered) to make it less of a grind to get one (as far as material costs that is, not even talking about the precursor thing, just the need for everything to need 250 of everything left and right) Items that don’t even drop out of the new RNG boxes.

tigirius.9014:

It amazes me the number of “I got mine” groupies in these forums these days that continue in their illusion that nothing’s wrong. Ascended is far from casual and very much a grind, don’t kid yourselves LOL

I am a casual player and had no problem gearing two characters with ascended gear. You don’t even need ascended gear until you hit level 20.

Psychatog.8246:

um its not, everything can be completed by casuals

Tier 3 weapons….would like to have a talk with you.

Killigraphy.3075:

Psychatog.8246:

um its not, everything can be completed by casuals

Tier 3 weapons….would like to have a talk with you.

Do you mean t3 cultural ARMOR? because the weapons are really easy to get. 63k karma isn’t alot given that there are very few karma sinks.

Even t3 armor is cheap. 119g for the most prestigious armor? A bargain.

I’ll stop posting. I just want to say if everything is casual what is there left for hardcore to do?

You meant to tell me the only thing hardcore to do is chase some prestage skins?

What if I don’t even want those skin? I’m not a cosmetic person. Anet want people to spend a few hundred hours farming for something they don’t even want?

I consider myself casual. I play 1-2 hours a night, maybe 4-5 days a week. I even took about a month break in December where I didn’t log in at all. I have 1 level 80 in full exotics and I just got 100% map completion a few days ago.

I try to do my daily 5 times a week if I can. If I can’t, no big deal. It will take me a month and a half or so to get my amulet I’m saving for and that’s fine too.

Oh, and I’ve never set foot in a dungeon.

In other words, this game is extremely casual friendly.

My husband, who plays even less than me, and he took a 2 month break, has a level 70 character right now. He doesn’t mind that he isn’t 80 ( he knows he will get there soon) and he doesn’t mind that it will take him a few weeks to get all his exotics (after all, the journey is fun too right?).

Like someone above said, the pressure to have it all now is entirely put upon you by . . .YOU. Just play the game, have fun earning it. I know I’ll never have a legendary, and that doesn’t bother me, because I know not only do I not need it, but I wouldn’t have fun grinding for it. But guess what, I don’t whine that it’s too hard to get, I just don’t worry about getting it.

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

The devs were all hardcore over-achievers as players. All their friends are the same. Hardcore content is what devs enjoy showing off to other devs at conventions. Hardcore players brag about how something is too easy. Most people having trouble are too embarrassed to say anything on forums, they just quit.

From the devs point of view and from the point of view of their friends, hardcore content is what they end up believing is what everybody wants, and besides hardcore content has a long “lifespan”.

Besides that, Hardcore content is just plain more fun to make. There is something sadistically satisfying in designing a jump requireing a perfect computer with a perfect mouse, perfect reactions, zero lag, and only workable from only one little bitty takeoff point…and watch the suckers fall over and over.

“Challenge” is only fun if you end up winning.

Anwar.2018:

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

The devs were all hardcore over-achievers as players. All their friends are the same. Hardcore content is what devs enjoy showing off to other devs at conventions. Hardcore players brag about how something is too easy. Most people having trouble are too embarrassed to say anything on forums, they just quit.

From the devs point of view and from the point of view of their friends, hardcore content is what they end up believing is what everybody wants, and besides hardcore content has a long “lifespan”.

Besides that, Hardcore content is just plain more fun to make. There is something sadistically satisfying in designing a jump requireing a perfect computer with a perfect mouse, perfect reactions, zero lag, and only workable from only one little bitty takeoff point…and watch the suckers fall over and over.

“Challenge” is only fun if you end up winning.

This is perspective. Some people enjoy challenge whether or not they win, and enjoy the journey. Some people do not do things simply to finish them or to achieve a goal. There is some long history of psychology involved in those different types of people but I don’t feel like explaining it, or the Maslow’s Triangle :P

It really just depends on how you look at the game. Whether or not you are hardcore or casual, you have the same opportunity to acquire the same things. As stated over and over throughout this thread:

There is clearly only one difference in those two type achieving the same goal-Time.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Nalora.7964:

Yes, I figured you probably realized I was in a foul mood today, and feeling sarcastic.

… snip …

I just want to have fun for a long time in Guild Wars 2, I guess, and more and more it looks like the party is over.

Nalora: I am seeing most of the same things that you are, but I am reacting to them differently. I don’t experience any grind in GW2. Any time I am faced with doing something I really don’t want to do, I just don’t do it. If I decide to do something because I want the outcome/reward then I do it, realizing I chose to do it.

I also don’t stress about not getting something. If I want something, but don’t want to do what it takes to get it, I decide not to go for it. If I want something and getting it faster means doing stuff I prefer not to do, I just take longer. I don’t have to have it now.

There are things about the game I do not like. I ask for change if I think it’s warranted, but I have no thought that it has to happen. If it means I avoid that part of the game, well there are a lot of things in the game I DO like to do, so no big deal.

When I decided to buy GW2, I chose not to look at it as an MMO, with the expectations that I have seen expressed about MMO’s here, there and everywhere on the internet. Instead, I looked at it as a game. I was paying $60 US for a game that I have to this point played for > 1200 hours. To me, this has been a good value, since I have paid as much for other games and played for much less time.

This is not meant to criticize your way of looking at GW2, but to suggest a different way of looking at the game that might promote your having more fun. You can say no to grind and still play and enjoy GW2. Whether you want to do that or not, good luck going forward, no matter what your choice of entertainment is.

Yea, I do this all the time. I do an attitude check, try to change my paradigm. SHIFT IT ALREADY, NALORA. (you can hear me screaming that, right, every day )

I have had to give up many things in GW2 and I guess that is what chaps my rear end some days and I get all gritchy about it all. I look at something I want to achieve, and then look at what kind of time I have to put in to achieve it and just go: Oh hail no!

Plus you feel like they hate you—-the devs just hate you and want you to quit. I know this is unreasonable. Kind of like yelling at God like Job on a really bedeviled day —-WHAT HAVE YOU GOT AGAINST ME? shakes fist at sky On those days when you look in your inventory and just see massive piles of….junk.

Funny too, because in GW1 I was always the one screaming at people to stop leaving their “junk drops” on the ground. “Would you leave gold on the ground if it were there?” I would ask. I got filthy rich from “junk” over 7 years in GW1. No drop left behind! And this too, may be part of my problem—-I am so very poor now. But, I am just starting, I remind myself.

So yea….I feel some better. Its because I am such a care bear weanie. I tend to focus more on support —-and I loved (yea I did) the combo aspect of the game and was so keen on watching this groovy synergy I would get (this is my greatest “fun” in the game) from laying down a combo field and keeping these big beefy “power” guys alive that I did not do enough damage to get the loot. (confirmed now by Colin)

Alas for the born healer in me.

Nalora, R.N., MSN.

Aeroali.2814:

Like someone above said, the pressure to have it all now is entirely put upon you by . . .YOU. Just play the game, have fun earning it.

If one mainly plays WvW then it is an advantage to have better stats no matter how slight so it isn’t necessarily a matter of taking ones time.

There is also the fact that anet did promise that top level stats would be available without or with minimal grind. They have broken that promise. The laurels are a grind even if its not difficult.

Most of the people complaining here are saying “I’m a casual player but i want to have the best gear in the game”. I think people forgot what casual means or i’ve been wrong for such a long time.

Nalora.7964:

Yea, I do this all the time. I do an attitude check, try to change my paradigm. SHIFT IT ALREADY, NALORA. (you can hear me screaming that, right, every day )

I have had to give up many things in GW2 and I guess that is what chaps my rear end some days and I get all gritchy about it all. I look at something I want to achieve, and then look at what kind of time I have to put in to achieve it and just go: Oh hail no!

Plus you feel like they hate you—-the devs just hate you and want you to quit. I know this is unreasonable. Kind of like yelling at God like Job on a really bedeviled day —-WHAT HAVE YOU GOT AGAINST ME? shakes fist at sky On those days when you look in your inventory and just see massive piles of….junk.

Funny too, because in GW1 I was always the one screaming at people to stop leaving their “junk drops” on the ground. “Would you leave gold on the ground if it were there?” I would ask. I got filthy rich from “junk” over 7 years in GW1. No drop left behind! And this too, may be part of my problem—-I am so very poor now. But, I am just starting, I remind myself.

So yea….I feel some better. Its because I am such a care bear weanie. I tend to focus more on support —-and I loved (yea I did) the combo aspect of the game and was so keen on watching this groovy synergy I would get (this is my greatest “fun” in the game) from laying down a combo field and keeping these big beefy “power” guys alive that I did not do enough damage to get the loot. (confirmed now by Colin)

Alas for the born healer in me.

Nalora, R.N., MSN.

Yeah, my GW1 bank is pretty full, mostly from green farming back when they were worth something, as well as a whole lot of gold earned from Zaishen missions and vanquishing lots of areas — not to mention the occasional rare drop that was worth something.

I see lots of posts about GW2 being more rewarding if partied. This also provides people to combo with, and support — with the upside that their damage will help you get credit towards drops. I also remember you saying your friends list was a wasteland. Is there any way you could make GW2 more of a social game? It might help with drops, as well as potentially being more rewarding in and of itself.

Anyway, I’m glad you feel some better. I hope the trend continues.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

Most of the people complaining here are saying “I’m a casual player but i want to have the best gear in the game”. I think people forgot what casual means or i’ve been wrong for such a long time.

No, i think you forgot what game this was supposed to be. Hint: it was supposed to be a game where the top tier eq was easily accessible, and gameplay would not concentrate on achieving stat advantage. Lot of the players bought that game swayed by this promise.

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

Why you think? Fractals where problematic, but now you don’t even have to do fractals and you can just join in with all level fractals. Just spend a couple of hours doing a daily and your all splendid. A casual can easily reach top level with exotic gear. This game is the most casual friendly MMO I know of right now.

beren.6048:

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

Why you think? Fractals where problematic, but now you don’t even have to do fractals and you can just join in with all level fractals. Just spend a couple of hours doing a daily and your all splendid. A casual can easily reach top level with exotic gear. This game is the most casual friendly MMO I know of right now.

maybe not…
I played many mmorpg, current pattern is getting really near lineage 2 or granado espada or any korean mmorpg.

1 month to get 1 piece of ascended item?
Nice so you need 1,5 yeras to equip 1 character ._.

How much time was needed in korean mmorpgs?

oh and don t forget they already said they could raise level cap basically making all your equipment obsolete at once ..

Except legendary that are already way over korean mmorpg grinding unless you don t exploit system somehow (speculating TP, buing for real moneys etc etc etc…).

P.S. yet i hope they will change this….they seems to understand its quite a mistake….
As they did with rings in fotm that at least are easy to obtain.

LordByron.8369:

1 month to get 1 piece of ascended item?
Nice so you need 1,5 yeras to equip 1 character ._.

Only if you only use that method, or if another method isn’t brought out later. If they make Ascended available through WvW, I bet the hardcore Dub-vee-Dub will have theirs quickly compared to Laurels.

Right now, Amulets are available only through Laurels, and the Rings are available in Fractals and via Laurels. Back items are mostly only available through Fractals through repeated trips. Nothing else is yet available.

Again, you can get one Ascended Amulet for 30 Laurels. That’s 30 Daily achievement completions, or 20 Daily and one Monthly. In short – one semi-casual month will get you one. I play for maybe two hours a day, and I’ll have my amulet after Wednesday. A few of my guildmates have theirs before me and they basically play roughly six of seven days of the week and only for a few hours.

It’s kind of self-centered but right now I’m only seeing a problem if you insist on only gearing through laurels . . . or if you must insist on gearing all your characters instead of just the ones you use the most.

If I started this game this month, I’d have an amulet by the time I hit 80. If that’s not considered “easily accessible” I don’t know what you’re looking for.

LordByron.8369:

beren.6048:

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

Why you think? Fractals where problematic, but now you don’t even have to do fractals and you can just join in with all level fractals. Just spend a couple of hours doing a daily and your all splendid. A casual can easily reach top level with exotic gear. This game is the most casual friendly MMO I know of right now.

maybe not…
I played many mmorpg, current pattern is getting really near lineage 2 or granado espada or any korean mmorpg.

1 month to get 1 piece of ascended item?
Nice so you need 1,5 yeras to equip 1 character ._.

How much time was needed in korean mmorpgs?

oh and don t forget they already said they could raise level cap basically making all your equipment obsolete at once ..

Except legendary that are already way over korean mmorpg grinding unless you don t exploit system somehow (speculating TP, buing for real moneys etc etc etc…).

P.S. yet i hope they will change this….they seems to understand its quite a mistake….
As they did with rings in fotm that at least are easy to obtain.

People say GW2 is such a grind and then I think of L2 and its a bit silly. In L2 having the latest gear is a necessity, without it you can not win. You may have super human playing skill, one super gear character one shots you. Getting gear in L2 in 1 month? Ha! One year more likely and then the next gear comes and repeat. No wonder in these games everybody uses 3rd party.

GW2 is not like that, first of all I never even needed any of this ascend stuff. And legendary is only a nice skin.

Danikat.8537:

I’m very much a casual player (been playing since launch and I still don’t have a level 80)

you sir are a super hardcore casual player…and should consider playing some single player games not mmo’s if you still don’t have a lvl80 toon after SIX month from launch.

beren.6048:

LordByron.8369:

beren.6048:

Towndrunk.9562:

I’m a casual player. I have noticed that this game is evolving in a way that is making it harder for casuals to complete content. Too bad. Why is that?

Why you think? Fractals where problematic, but now you don’t even have to do fractals and you can just join in with all level fractals. Just spend a couple of hours doing a daily and your all splendid. A casual can easily reach top level with exotic gear. This game is the most casual friendly MMO I know of right now.

maybe not…
I played many mmorpg, current pattern is getting really near lineage 2 or granado espada or any korean mmorpg.

1 month to get 1 piece of ascended item?
Nice so you need 1,5 yeras to equip 1 character ._.

How much time was needed in korean mmorpgs?

oh and don t forget they already said they could raise level cap basically making all your equipment obsolete at once ..

Except legendary that are already way over korean mmorpg grinding unless you don t exploit system somehow (speculating TP, buing for real moneys etc etc etc…).

P.S. yet i hope they will change this….they seems to understand its quite a mistake….
As they did with rings in fotm that at least are easy to obtain.

People say GW2 is such a grind and then I think of L2 and its a bit silly. In L2 having the latest gear is a necessity, without it you can not win. You may have super human playing skill, one super gear character one shots you. Getting gear in L2 in 1 month? Ha! One year more likely and then the next gear comes and repeat. No wonder in these games everybody uses 3rd party.

GW2 is not like that, first of all I never even needed any of this ascend stuff. And legendary is only a nice skin.

no its not you could go ranged….

Also Agony……

And 1,5 years in most korean mmorpgs you dress a toon..

For the thing about more ways to obtain items….its a thing that isn still implemented.

We had just an example with laurels.
I think its really bad balanced the effort taken to get a ring with laurels and from fotm…

And this from a fotm player that has almost 1X every ring infused.

laokoko.7403:

I love this game. But this game is just too shallow because Anet have to cater to the casual players.

Please define how a hardcore player like you defines ‘shallow’ so we can understand the ‘depth’ you think is lacking.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

Most of the people complaining here are saying “I’m a casual player but i want to have the best gear in the game”. I think people forgot what casual means or i’ve been wrong for such a long time.

‘Casual’ has no single meaning, it’s used as a derogatory term by some elitists when they’re being condescending to others they consider inferior .. in which case it will mean something like ‘lazy’, they want it on a ‘silver platter’, etc. .. other times it’s used to define players who can’t devote 4+ hours to do a single raid or other group event, etc. There are many other uses to which ‘casual’ is put, thus it means nothing really any more.

Thus, whenever the word ‘casual’ is used in an argument you generally can toss rational discussion out of the window, because one side or the other will be trying to score points.

I seen this particular argument made from the viewpoint of ‘hardcore’ players on these forums in the past. I think people just like to complain. :x

Otterwott.1792:

I seen this particular argument made from the viewpoint of ‘hardcore’ players on these forums in the past. I think people just like to complain. :x

You now understand the universe And the interwebs hehe

Kraggy.4169:

Chicho Gosho.6507:

Most of the people complaining here are saying “I’m a casual player but i want to have the best gear in the game”. I think people forgot what casual means or i’ve been wrong for such a long time.

‘Casual’ has no single meaning, it’s used as a derogatory term by some elitists when they’re being condescending to others they consider inferior .. in which case it will mean something like ‘lazy’, they want it on a ‘silver platter’, etc. .. other times it’s used to define players who can’t devote 4+ hours to do a single raid or other group event, etc. There are many other uses to which ‘casual’ is put, thus it means nothing really any more.

Thus, whenever the word ‘casual’ is used in an argument you generally can toss rational discussion out of the window, because one side or the other will be trying to score points.

Casual isn’t an elitist term, many of my friends are casual and love the game. Its simply to separate people who enjoy the game casually as in “time played” or even “style played” as opposed to people who aggressively play for gold or leveling or pvp etc. There is nothing wrong with either type, anyone who says casuals are any less of players than the more hardcore are simply trolls.

Aside from casual and hardcore players there are “lazy players”, these people can be in both categories. Lazy players wish to have everything handed to them, do little or less work than everyone else for the same reward. True casuals understand that their purpose or mission in the game will take longer than hardcore players. True hardcore players realize they will have rewards sooner but have to work/play harder or longer. Lazy players don’t care about anyone but themselves mostly, and they are often the elitists you speak of. Because once they get that silver spoon its immediately used to tear down players who lack that specific thing. Its difficult to tell who is who in thee categories without knowing them personally, so its best never to judge. Rather, simply avoid agitating them thus causing a thread of hate towards whomever they wish. Much like zoo animals, you must remember not to feed them. If they get too used to being fed by the average gamers, they will grow up to be man-eating trolls. Once they reach this there is no cure and must quickly be removed from the zoo. They will be a harm to themselves and others and must be put into a special place away from the regular animals. Usually to someplace like http://us.battle.net/wow/en/.

morrolan.9608:

There is also the fact that anet did promise that top level stats would be available without or with minimal grind. They have broken that promise. The laurels are a grind even if its not difficult.

In all seriousness, and assuming that by “top level stats” you mean “literally best-in-slot items,” on what are you basing this claim? When was this promise ever made? Think about what you’re actually stating….

This is the quote I see bandied about all the time:

If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game.

It absolutely boggles my mind that people think this spirit has been violated.

First of all, a thousand hours represents roughly my entire playtime since launch, the majority of which actually came before Ascended gear was added to the game.

I have 5 pieces of Ascended gear. In a week or less I’ll have another with my amulet.

Second, of all, the description offered there absolutely lines up with Legendary weapons, which require so much time and effort as to be totally unrealistic to acquire for most players. Lo and behold, legendary weapons are not a single statistical point higher than their exotic counterparts.

And finally… regardless of how hard or easy or grindy or not-grindy it is to get Ascended stuff… “best-in-slot” gear is nowhere remotely close to necessary in this game. I wish the concept that it was would die and never rear its ugly head again :’[ It is ludicrously easy, trivially easy, compared to other MMOs, to get the gear necessary to compete at endgame.

People who only play WvW have a more legitimate argument at how their enjoyment might be affected but I won’t get into that.

I implore you to look at the big picture! If GW2 actually is anti-casual, it will fail almost as a matter of course. I suppose we’ll just see what happens.

Chicho Gosho.6507:

Most of the people complaining here are saying “I’m a casual player but i want to have the best gear in the game”. I think people forgot what casual means or i’ve been wrong for such a long time.

Casual means you don’t play very often, it doesn’t mean you cant have the best gear…

If I started this game this month, I’d have an amulet by the time I hit 80. If that’s not considered “easily accessible” I don’t know what you’re looking for.

Easily Accessible to me is getting Ascended exactly the same way you get every other tier of Armor below it, right through the game, not one dungeon or a monthly long time sink…

Ascended was put in to be a time sink. If it were easily accessible, it would not be a time sink. If this were changed to make getting it less time consuming, people would then be complaining about nothing to do. It’s going to take me 4 months of non-grindy play to amulet-ize my 4 80’s. It would then take me another 8-9 months of non-grindy play to ring them. Another year to accessorize the other 4 who are still en route to 80. Two years of reason to log in. What, exactly, is wrong with having long-term goals? Oh, right, that might require the cultivation of patience.

There are a lot of variables at work for me on this subject.

For starters, the easiest way to get gear is to craft exotics, but that costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time to farm resources. 2 things that I’m not good with.

The second easiest way to get gear is to run dungeons, but the dungeons is this game are so horrendously designed and painful to complete, I just can’t be bothered to do more than one a week or so. Without specific roles, they had to scale down the instances so they were mindless zergs. To add an element of difficulty they made every single mob in the game knockback where you spend half the instance on your back or dead.

The next would probably be fractals which are mix between dungeons above and annoying scripted encounters that not every class can accomplish well and most people need to spend an hour talking about an event just to do a 10min run.

The next would be random world drops like dragon chests which have a 1 in 10 chance to drop a yellow. That yellow has a 1 in 3 chance of actually being useable. And then you have to worry about it using stats you’re interested in.

That least effective way to get gear is PvP. Now this isn’t the case for everyone. But I play on Ferg. And on this server we’re grossly outnumbered 3:1 on a good day and most people have lost interest in it where we only have about 2 hours a day with truly active pvp happening (by active I mean zerg vs zerg).

And worse still with all the karma and badges you get, you still need obscene amounts of gold to get items which is hard to comeby unless you’re one of a select few that found a precursor you could sell.

So all that said, this game is very casual friendly when it comes to seeing everything there is to see and doing everything there is to do. The problem comes when you actualy expect to be rewarded for this kind of investment and that’s where my complaints are. I just feel like I play for 2+ hours a day and I wasn’t the least bit productive because I didn’t gain a level, I didn’t do a dungeon, I got 50 or fewer pvp badges, and I can’t get anything with the ‘loot’ for at least a month of ‘grinding’.

For now WvW is still fun though, but a time will come when it’s a chore and if I still haven’t decided on a main or I still haven’t accumulated a fair bit of gear, I’ll just up and quit because the content additions, game balances, and direction this game are going aren’t really allowing me to be productive.