Guild Wars 2

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone else was feeling this way. It’s weird because I spend most of my time gearing up alts with different gear sets / builds. Suddenly I’m very reluctant to use up any ectos as all.

I don’t even want to use dungeon tokens because maybe they will be used.

Or is this my own pathology and I should just get over it?

I have a character sitting at 70, whom I have little interest in leveling to 80. I have 40 laurels and none of my 80’s has a full set of Ascended trinkets, but I have little interest in using them. In fact, before the blog post I was enjoying logging in every day and playing with guild members. Now, I seem to have little interest in playing the game at all.

Seems my reasons are different than yours, but the effect is the same, I’ve stopped gearing characters up.

It takes like 2 days, max to gear up a character in exotics at 80. It will be 5-6 months before ascended armor is introduced… Seems kind of silly to me to not gear your characters based on something that is going to happen 6 months from now.

No, because ascended gear isn’t coming in a few weeks and unless you plan on quitting until it comes then there is no point to NOT gear up your character.

It seems more like you are using ascended gear as an excuse, when it seems more likely that you might not actually like playing the game, anymore. Same applies to the quoted individual below.

IndigoSundown.5419:

. In fact, before the blog post I was enjoying logging in every day and playing with guild members. Now, I seem to have little interest in playing the game at all.

Seems my reasons are different than yours, but the effect is the same, I’ve stopped gearing characters up.

Maybe it is time for you to move on? The reality is that it is coming, you can either accept it and simply enjoy the game or move on. you don’t need BiS gear to complete most of the relevant content. /fact

silvermember.8941:

you don’t need BiS gear to complete most of the relevant content. /fact

Not as /factual as you might think.

If someone needs to continue to have BiS gear in order to log into the game then he does need it in order to complete the content. You can’t complete the content without playing the game.

I (finally) got my lvl 80 (and my hubby’s 80 ele) into full rares, since I finally bothered to level his tailoring. Right now I’m gathering the pieces for my final transmuted look, after which I may or may not work on exotics. Requires a decent amount of either material or gold farming, and I’m not sure which I want to do. Since I can almost guarantee I won’t have the stuff to craft to 500 right away, I’ll end up in exotics long before I have ascended, but really….no rush. I can complete dungeons and the other various things I fiddle around with, without much of an issue.

Yeah, my point wasn’t really complaining about ascended gear except to question the wisdom of announcing it before its out. I do complain about it elsewhere and rather vehemently I admit.

It was more that I recognized that last night I stopped gearing up my character, I didn’t want to sell crafting materials I gathered, etc…. In other words I became a hoarder. Part of my brain realizes that I’m probably behaving irrationally and I wanted to do a sanity check.

I doubt GW2 has run it’s course for me. The last time I uninstalled the game it lasted about 2 days before I was back.

Not me. There are two reasons for me to get gear, stats and looks. Statswise, it’s very cheap to gear up. Most stat combinations are available on the TP for a couple gold with basic looks (assuming no temple gear, that unless you’re going for a legendary you probably have karma to burn if you’ve been doing dailies), and to be honest at least with rings and accesories the difference between exotic and ascended isn’t really that noticeable, at least to me. As for looks, which is the reason I’d get harder to get gear (like dungeon gear, for example), if I like how it looks now, I’ll still like how it looks when the ascended gear comes out, so I don’t see a point to stop gearing alts now because ascended gear might come up later.

I think all depends on how easily you afford them.
If it takes you little time then do it, if it takes you a lot longer then don’t.

I gear up all of my characters to exotic level and then just play the game. If I am doing fractals and I get rings, I put them on whatever alt is appropriate. If I look up and have enough laurels or guild commendations for an amulet or trinket, then I buy one for whichever character I think needs it at the time.

Ascended items are neat things I get as I am playing. I don’t try to farm them and don’t freak out one of my characters might have not gotten her ring yet. It’ll happen eventually. ATM I have two fully exotic/ascended characters with 35-40 AR and one that’s halfway there with 25.

As far as hording resources, there are two metaphorical truths that apply to nearly all games…

If you save your special weapon for the next bigger, badder robot crab, you will never get to use it.

and

It doesn’t matter what card you played, the one you draw next will almost always seem to have been better.

You know I could understand your concerns if Anet kept releasing armors.

But they told us that this would be the last tier of armor. We all know they wanted to release ascended at release but couldn’t. Ascended is the gap between exotics and legendaries.

If you refuse to believe in Anet then unfortunately you should probably just move on.

Not really. I’m still slaving away at my celestial set.

Vol.5241:

You know I could understand your concerns if Anet kept releasing armors.

But they told us that this would be the last tier of armor. We all know they wanted to release ascended at release but couldn’t. Ascended is the gap between exotics and legendaries.

If you refuse to believe in Anet then unfortunately you should probably just move on.

That’s not what I said at all. This is independent of whether or not ANet will continue to release more sets. The question is whether anyone else feels in suspended animation based on the fact that we know a new set is coming out before the end of the year.

I simple “no… you’re nuts” would suffice. In fact that’s what I’m hoping most people would say. Sometimes I do stupid things for the wrong reasons.

Ashen.2907:

silvermember.8941:

you don’t need BiS gear to complete most of the relevant content. /fact

Not as /factual as you might think.

If someone needs to continue to have BiS gear in order to log into the game then he does need it in order to complete the content. You can’t complete the content without playing the game.

Ya, that isn’t really an argument. If you have to resort to such a dumb argument, you really don’t have an argument.

Is like saying a person shouldn’t be failed because that person did not study, that argument never works once you reach high school.

AcidicVision.5498:

I gear up all of my characters to exotic level and then just play the game. If I am doing fractals and I get rings, I put them on whatever alt is appropriate. If I look up and have enough laurels or guild commendations for an amulet or trinket, then I buy one for whichever character I think needs it at the time.

Ascended items are neat things I get as I am playing. I don’t try to farm them and don’t freak out one of my characters might have not gotten her ring yet. It’ll happen eventually. ATM I have two fully exotic/ascended characters with 35-40 AR and one that’s halfway there with 25.

As far as hording resources, there are two metaphorical truths that apply to nearly all games…

If you save your special weapon for the next bigger, badder robot crab, you will never get to use it.

and

It doesn’t matter what card you played, the one you draw next will almost always seem to have been better.

That about sums it up.

Nope because if a build isn’t good with exotics it wouldn’t be good with ascended anyhow. On top of that I use the build websites to see the numbers before I buy trinkets, armor pieces, and weapons.

Ascended is good but you aren’t going to like be useless without it. The only thing I can think of is if you want to min/max for like pure glass cannon then ascended may help in taking someone from 100 to 0 quicker. But I have seen people WvW fine on exotics it just depends on your build.

Vol.5241:

You know I could understand your concerns if Anet kept releasing armors.

But they told us that this would be the last tier of armor. We all know they wanted to release ascended at release but couldn’t. Ascended is the gap between exotics and legendaries.

If you refuse to believe in Anet then unfortunately you should probably just move on.

But they also said they going to increase level cap so…

For me it really depend how much I play my toon. I gear them up if I play them alot, else I don’t bother.

I bothered to get some ascended trinket on my alt. Those are easy to get, but things like ascended backpiece I Just skip that. Too much work for my alt which I don’t play that much.

silvermember.8941:

IndigoSundown.5419:

. In fact, before the blog post I was enjoying logging in every day and playing with guild members. Now, I seem to have little interest in playing the game at all.

Seems my reasons are different than yours, but the effect is the same, I’ve stopped gearing characters up.

Maybe it is time for you to move on? The reality is that it is coming, you can either accept it and simply enjoy the game or move on. you don’t need BiS gear to complete most of the relevant content. /fact

No, I don’t have to accept it or move on. I’ll log in if I feel like it, if I don’t, I won’t.

I’ve let the developers know I think this is a mistake and will continue to do so. Ascended gear is alt unfriendly, more stats make worse the issue of the PvE game being too easy for some, as well as widening the gap between all-out direct damage and any other build. Further, the planned implementation kittens people who don’t enjoy crafting.

We have this Ascended crap in the first place because people complained, despite that all of the evidence suggested they were complaining into the teeth of the pre-launch publicity. So, I’m going to continue to say what I think, your attempt to shut me up in the guise of being helpful notwithstanding.

And I’m no longer going to throw money at ANet.

I strongly suspect that ascended gear will be outrageously expensive and time consuming to get. Which also means you can’t easily change builds or get multiple armor with different stats.

Might as well stay with exotics. Since you can do most content easily enough with rares, ascended is a bit of overkill.

I have 8 level 80s. Getting ascended for all of them will be a chore.

Most of my gear is acquired naturally through playig the game either through WvW, Temple/Karma or Crafting. Occasionally I’ll get enough dungeon tokens to buy a piece of dungeon gear but Dungeons tend to take up too much of my time finding a group when I’d rather just be out doing open world events or WvW. As much as I dislike Ascended gear, the reasoning behind it is primarily due to it limiting how I am able to play my characters. I like that exotics aren’t typically hard to acquire because I can own several sets tailored to various builds.

With ascended gear, I will be locked into one set of gear/build for a prolonged period of time which is where my problem lies. I like being able to switch to condition , direct damge, healing or tanky gear, spend a few silver on resetting my traits and doing something different if my current build is feeling stale. Once Ascended Armour comes into the game I will be unable to do this for several months or even years depending on how long it takes to get several sets of Ascended gear for each of my characters. Once that becomes too much of an issue is when I will be seriously considering whether to log in or find another home.

Yes, I absolutely have stopped and I had a large ambitious plan going. I was enjoying gathering up multiple stat sets and I’d say it was giving me a lot of versatility. I have a few mains which are pretty much done in 4-5 sets and am moving on to other alts to try out new builds and have various sets.

That’s come to a complete halt with this news. I’ve also stopped building celestial sets for double reasons, this and the fact that MF will be gone. Have no desire to make sets after this news as the sets are a min max game play and with them not being max in the long term it makes no sense to min max them.

Yeah, exotics are too expensive for notBiS gear :o

I just treat Exotic as the highest tier. Ascended, so far as my sixteen alts and I are concerned, does not exist. I ran Fractals enough to see all the different story segments and dumped my earnings into the market, or banked what couldn’t be converted into something auctionable. I blew all my Laurels on Dye, and continue to do so at a rate of 1.4 10-packs a week.

I’m still working on two Legendaries, but that’s for RP-reasons, not because I care that they’ll some day be upgraded to Ascended stats.

IndigoSundown.5419:

silvermember.8941:

IndigoSundown.5419:

. In fact, before the blog post I was enjoying logging in every day and playing with guild members. Now, I seem to have little interest in playing the game at all.

Seems my reasons are different than yours, but the effect is the same, I’ve stopped gearing characters up.

Maybe it is time for you to move on? The reality is that it is coming, you can either accept it and simply enjoy the game or move on. you don’t need BiS gear to complete most of the relevant content. /fact

No, I don’t have to accept it or move on. I’ll log in if I feel like it, if I don’t, I won’t.

You can in fact log in all you want, I wasn’t attempting to dispute that fact. I am however suggesting that if you are not happy playing a GAME that is meant for fun, maybe you should consider moving on. If you enjoy being miserable that’s fine as well.

Hey if you want to stick around that is your choice and right.

stof.9341:

Yeah, exotics are too expensive for notBiS gear :o

Too expensive as in? Like 10-20g on the ah to get a full set? or like 240k or so karma? For exotics to be the current bis gearing up in them is beyond laughable compared to even on of the most casual mmos out there(WoW).

Unless you want the most expensive look there is there is absolutely no excuse to use the whole “too expensive” phrase when even getting a terrible look is nothing in price, and hey you can always change the look of it later with stones so that 10-20g of terrible looking gear will now be able to look like whatever you want.

I’m not bothering with Ascended gear. I never play in PUGs anyway, and the open world content can be done in exotics.

Vol.5241:

But they told us that this would be the last tier of armor.

Hah, right. They said thus will be the last tier of gear for the moment.

I have eight level 80 characters (and 4 more on the way). There is NO WAY I’m going to get all of them into ascended gear before the turn of the next century, so I’m absolutely still gearing characters out with exotics .

Biggest difference is now I can use some of these heaps of WvW tokens the achievement chests give to get a discount on ascended amulets for my horde .

Wilhelm.6894:

Too expensive as in? Like 10-20g on the ah to get a full set? or like 240k or so karma? For exotics to be the current bis gearing up in them is beyond laughable compared to even on of the most casual mmos out there(WoW).

Unless you want the most expensive look there is there is absolutely no excuse to use the whole “too expensive” phrase when even getting a terrible look is nothing in price, and hey you can always change the look of it later with stones so that 10-20g of terrible looking gear will now be able to look like whatever you want.

10-20g riiiiight. I just checked the price of the crafted items on the TP. It costs 20g for the full set of armor and 17g more for the trinkets. And you are still missing the weapons.

Karma gives you crappy armor stats too. And many interesting trinket stats are missing. And you get no weapons at all.

The WvW tokens are nice but only gear up like half one alt exotic set with all the 6000 AP tokens we got. And besides, it’s hardly something a new player can count on when he gets his first 80 for example.

Now, what I’m NOT doing because of announcement for future play is I’ve stopped buying/processing Charged core/lodestones. I expect the price on those to dive for at least a bit after the Champion rewards change hits. I will get Infinite Light eventually, but for the moment my pursuit is on hold.

TooBz.3065:

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone else was feeling this way. It’s weird because I spend most of my time gearing up alts with different gear sets / builds. Suddenly I’m very reluctant to use up any ectos as all.

I don’t even want to use dungeon tokens because maybe they will be used.

Or is this my own pathology and I should just get over it?

I’m personally not worrying about it since we don’t even have a time line for when we will have access to that gear. All they’ve said is that it’s planned for 2013 so that gives them a solid 5 months to work with.

Also I’m pretty sure they said we’d use the new t7 materials to make ascended gear.

Nothing has changed, I didn’t get gear before the blog post and still don’t. Only my main is decked out in unsorted exotics that are about half right for the playstyle. My alts are barely geared at all.

They’re handled by a skilled player though, makes all the difference.

There’s absolutely not point to not continue gearing unless you plan on taking a break until ascended armor and weapons are added. At the moment we only know that they have plans to introduce ascended armor and weapons in the next 5 months. We have no idea when they plan to do that within that time span.

If you halt gearing your characters, you’re really going to be limiting yourself until ascended armor and weapons are added. I’m not sure I see the point in doing that. Exotic is still the highest tier for armor and weapon stats. Treat it that way until it changes.

This whole week has tempered my enthusiasm for the game.
The little things have all added up to an overwhelming feeling of malaise.

First, the realisation that they’re holding the rapier back still and that it’ll be RNG if it ever arrives.

Secondly, the step back from the Dragon Coffers to the execrable Black Lion Chest extortathon again, made worse with scraps being uncommon loot as opposed to being guaranteed with every chest opened.

Third, the poor quality of Cutthroat Politics compared to other weeks, with an over-reliance on PvP or dungeon activities and a shoddy, hastily implemented Horde mode. Plus, a pointless election I really couldn’t give a kitten about.

And finally, an overwhelming fatigue in general thanks to not being allowed to just play.
No, now I feel I have to do my dailies / monthlies.
I have to combine my crystals.
I have to mine the node in my personal home instance.
I have to grind out Ascended gear in order to stay at a competitive level.
I have to pursue boring and inane activities I don’t like in order to get enough achievement points to get to the next rung of the ladder.

I’m beginning to feel like one of Pavlov’s dogs.

Well sod it.

The Steam Sale’s just come and gone, and I’ve got a lot of more interesting games to play that do more than just the bare minimum to keep my interest. They don’t treat me like a walking wallet and I can play them how and when I want.
If I get bored playing them, I can put them down for a day / week / month / year and not have to worry about being behind the curve when I decide to try them again.

It’s going to take a strong act of willpower, as ArenaNet have been learning tricks of addiction from other, more execrable companies. They really have become pushers.

If there is ever proof discovered linking addiction and videogames, MMOs that practise such exploitative behaviour are in a massive amount of trouble.

Vol.5241:

You know I could understand your concerns if Anet kept releasing armors.

But they told us that this would be the last tier of armor.

They did not. All they promised is that there would be no new tiers this year, and that none are currently in the works. On the other hand they did promise to continue gear progression.
Yes, your ascended armor will get obsoleted at some point as well.
Unless we manage to persuade Anet to change their course.

And as an advice to the OP:
Get what armor you can get cheaply and fast. Don’t bother investing too much wealth and effort in it, though. Karma temple armor seems to be a good base to build on, seeing as Karma seems to have become a mostly useless currency.