Guild Wars 2

I skimmed through the 5 pages but found no mention of what happens to the skin. I’ve crafted a few for the skin/color combination (don’t judge me) and would like to know if this forging only affects stat or skin as well to the color-coordinated stat change. I’m a bit reluctant to throw mine down the forge atm.

FrozenStarRo.7240:

I skimmed through the 5 pages but found no mention of what happens to the skin. I’ve crafted a few for the skin/color combination (don’t judge me) and would like to know if this forging only affects stat or skin as well to the color-coordinated stat change. I’m a bit reluctant to throw mine down the forge atm.

This was answered by the devs on Reddit. Basically, when you forge the items together, it creates a completely new item, so it will have the appropriate color for its type of stats. And yes, this means if you transmuted your weapon to something else, it will be reverted to the base Ascended weapon look, of the appropriate color.

The good news is, this makes it much easier and cheaper to unlock colors you might’ve wanted but had bad stats.

In your particular case, all you would need to do is reforge your weapons into the stat combo you wanted, and then transmute the color you’ve already unlocked onto it. This will obviously cost a transmutation charge though.

I don’t mind the cost of 1 trans. charge so long as forging doesn’t erase the already unlocked skin from wardrobe. Thanks for clearing that up.

DarkSpirit.7046:

xarallei.4279:

There never should have been an increase to begin with. Like Colin said, it goes against what GW2 is about. I’m glad they are not going through with it.

If it goes against the game then why did they introduce it in the first place?

If they want to introduce a new gear tier called ascended then by all means introduce it with courage and conviction. Otherwise, don’t introduce it! Just don’t be half way here and there. So annoying when they can’t make up their minds.

Exactly.

People are happy with the 5% boost because people are happy that ascended gear remains pointless. They are the same people that do not want to invest on ascended gear, or at least not do it under pressure, and it is understandable, because GW2’s focus should not be on massive and mindless gear grinding.

However, this leaves the people that want to get ascended, or have invested on it, a bit cold. Ascended gear will remain unsatisfying to obtain for non-fractals users. The 10% boost made it more appealing, but it won’t happen. Currently, ascended is an illusion: it makes you sink your entire gold for something that is unnoticeable and that no one cares about. And there’s nothing wrong with insignificant, theorycrafting-only vertical progression, if the gear offered some other kind of (horizontal) progression. Which it doesn’t. Well, with the exception of this new change, but even then, that’s only a QoL change to those who already have ascended – exotic users can simply buy a second piece of gear for the same value, and gain the advantage of being able to switch gears out of combat whenever they want, allowing a better playing experience.

That’s why I and many people think free stat swapping, or account-unlocking stats (wardrobe-esque), or anything of the sort, would be pretty cool for ascended. Those weapons and armors would go from the most hated to the most loved, from the most anti-horizontal progression to the ones that most favor it (alongside legendaries, of course). It would also go hand-in-hand with any build template feature that they might want to implement in the future. If ascended gear had some sort of free stat swapping, any player would be able to switch their builds in pve and wvw as they would in pvp. Huge win!

I can understand that legendaries need some sort of feature that makes them unique, but tying one of the core game philosophies of GW2 (build experimentation) with near-unacchievable end-game gear (that is currently restricted to weapons only, too) does no good to making GW2 a better game.

Happy to see this. Would be happier if ascended had free stat swapping, tho. This step, even if it’s in the right direction, leaves the ascended system exposed. What’s the purpose of having all those laurel recipes now? It’s cheaper to craft the one you have and convert. What’s the purpose of time gating (celestial) if you can just convert any other?

noooooooooooooo i need my buffed ascended!!!

Will there be a possibility to salvage ascended gear soon?

Moss.5371:

Happy to see this. Would be happier if ascended had free stat swapping, tho. This step, even if it’s in the right direction, leaves the ascended system exposed. What’s the purpose of having all those laurel recipes now? It’s cheaper to craft the one you have and convert. What’s the purpose of time gating (celestial) if you can just convert any other?

For the celestial one, you still need to get the charged lodestones, and those are still once a day.

Does this only work for the ascended armor/weapons you can craft or Tequatl/triple trouble wurm ascended armor/weapons aswell?

donnybeast.9168:

Does this only work for the ascended armor/weapons you can craft or Tequatl/triple trouble wurm ascended armor/weapons aswell?

You cna change stats on any ascended armor and weapons, regardless of origin, so it doesnt matter, if its crafted, from pvp, wvw, fractals or pve.

You cant forge another piece into teq or triple wurm armor, though, as they have no stat specific insignas/inscriptions.

Wanze.8410:

donnybeast.9168:

Does this only work for the ascended armor/weapons you can craft or Tequatl/triple trouble wurm ascended armor/weapons aswell?

You cna change stats on any ascended armor and weapons, regardless of origin, so it doesnt matter, if its crafted, from pvp, wvw, fractals or pve.

You cant forge another piece into teq or triple wurm armor, though, as they have no stat specific insignas/inscriptions.

That is going to be expensive though.

They are inconsistent with their policy on ascended items. I am annoyed with their half in/half out policy with ascended items. They want the ascended gear tier to act as an expensive gold sink but they refuse to make them useful enough for most people to feel compelled to acquire.

If they are not useful then remove them, otherwise make them useful. Stop wasting time going back and forth!

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just want to clarify since I saw this come up a couple of times in this thread and we haven’t actually released our full official patch notes for 6/23 yet….

Ascended Gear will be staying 5% better than Exotic Gear. Gear beyond the tiers we already have are not going to be added and our existing tiers won’t change, they won’t be our main end-game form of progression for your characters/account for all the reasons we’ve covered before – it isn’t what we think Gw2 is about.

Masteries is being added to PvE to help provide this system as our form of progression for PvE moving forward, and the WvW ability system exists for WvW and will be what we use to expand WvW in the future.

To more directly answer some of your point….We are adding a system that lets you change the stats for your ascended gear (weapons and armor) next Tuesday – which will cost a combination of 10 spirit shards, piece you don’t want anymore, 5 ectos, and an exotic insignia of the stats you want to convert to. Legendary Gear will remain the gear that can freely change stats any time.

-CJ
(Edited to clarify weapons and armor)

I didnt see anyone state this. but why do we have to pay that much extra for something that should just be included into the merchant list. like yay we can switch stats now, but we have to pay extra for items that should be equal in the merchant list.

Let’s suppose I want to morph my Saphir (assassin ascended) armor to Zojja (berserker):
- 5 ecto (1.89g) * 6(pieces): 11.34g
- 1 zerk insignia (6.85g) * 6: 41,1g
Let’s suppose I’m using even just 1 +10 infusion on the armor: 57.99g
And that I’m using runes of strength (8.98g) * 6: 53.88g

164.31g right now to change ONE SET, ONE SINGLE TIME.

Cheaper yes, but not impressed.
With this implementation I woulnd’t be surprised in seeing this process to double or triple in price when the demand of mats will rise.
Ascended should be some kind of “boxes” in which you “add” your stats, not where you overwrite them.
They could even evolve in the legendary tier when you “unlock” them all.
Let’s say ~20 sets: ~500g for the first set + ~50g per set “upgrade” * 19 = 1450g for a full unlocked ascended set that would became “LEGENDARY” (at least in its functionality, not asking for the cool skins).

Overwriting != Progression.

Erick Alastor.3917:

They could even evolve in the legendary tier when you “unlock” them all.
Let’s say ~20 sets: ~500g for the first set + ~50g per set “upgrade” * 19 = 1450g for a full unlocked ascended set that would became “LEGENDARY” (at least in its functionality, not asking for the cool skins).

Overwriting != Progression.

I hear this many times where people ask, “Should I make ascended weapons or should I save up for making legendaries”? If the ascended tier was done right, that kind of question wouldn’t even be asked at all! Ascended should have been a natural progression towards legendary but yet they are designed as a separate alternative to screw with us.

And I don’t buy this BS about “it goes against what GW2 is about” which is a statement designed just to make the anti-gear grind crowd feel good. If they truly care so much what GW2 is about, then they shouldn’t have introduced ascended gear in the first place!

The ascended tier right now is a broken tier, neither here nor there. Too expensive and not useful enough to compel most players to craft them. They might as well just scrap it!

I think MFing Asc. Weapons/Armor is about allowing someone to change 1 few pieces due to stat changes on traits, or to allow someone who gets a drop to actually have a way to convert it to something useful — not to allow for easy conversion for an entire gear set — though it does seem cheaper than buying everything outright and just crafting a new set.

Erick Alastor.3917:

Let’s suppose I want to morph my Saphir (assassin ascended) armor to Zojja (berserker):
- 5 ecto (1.89g) * 6(pieces): 11.34g
- 1 zerk insignia (6.85g) * 6: 41,1g
Let’s suppose I’m using even just 1 +10 infusion on the armor: 57.99g
And that I’m using runes of strength (8.98g) * 6: 53.88g

164.31g right now to change ONE SET, ONE SINGLE TIME.

Cheaper yes, but not impressed.
With this implementation I woulnd’t be surprised in seeing this process to double or triple in price when the demand of mats will rise.
Ascended should be some kind of “boxes” in which you “add” your stats, not where you overwrite them.
They could even evolve in the legendary tier when you “unlock” them all.
Let’s say ~20 sets: ~500g for the first set + ~50g per set “upgrade” * 19 = 1450g for a full unlocked ascended set that would became “LEGENDARY” (at least in its functionality, not asking for the cool skins).

Overwriting != Progression.

How did you get a +10 agony infusion on your armor. It was my understanding those could only be applied to infused rings or back items.

Hah!

I have grown from anger to amusement. I’m sticking with my exotics for now, especially since there is now so much drama over afunctionality that Anet didn’t even need to offer, and sprung upon us by surprise.

All those with Ascended have paid the (considerable) price of crafting them, and now complain you have to pay more for a feature you didn’t even know you were getting and which you don’t need?

Oh the irony. Isn’t this what Ascended crafters have been saying to us Exotic wearers for ages? “Oh just drop some gold and craft it, it isn’t that expensive/hard, and you don’t REALLY need it anyway”.

:D

simplesimon.2084:

How did you get a +10 agony infusion on your armor. It was my understanding those could only be applied to infused rings or back items.

I shouldn’t have add it, I know, it’s just a guess, because if they intend to raise the fractals level cap I believe it’s not so unlikely they will let us infuse even other pieces.

ColinJohanson.2394:

This is for weapon and armor currently – weapons use the same recipe as armor to stat change except they use inscriptions to allow you to change instead of insignias.

Alas yes it does destroy the runes and sigils in the item, the mystic forge doesn’t currently have a way to allow us to do this kind of stat changing without it working that way.

Also: Shout out to Matt P and Linsey who did all the hard work to make this possible

very cool change. Will this change also include ascended pieces won in the ladder season? Afaik, these don’t currently contribute towards the ascended accoutrement achievement—I would be willing to forge-convert them to one that would, given the opportunity.

yoyi.3469:

I’m just glad of having a full bank tab with ascended gear from fractals that have stats without use for me.

It all makes sense now!

edit: ooo forget it..
Only for amor and weapons…those rings are going to keep wasting
space in my bank.
Can’t delete those shinies though.
It’s just feels wrong.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Erick Alastor.3917:

They could even evolve in the legendary tier when you “unlock” them all.
Let’s say ~20 sets: ~500g for the first set + ~50g per set “upgrade” * 19 = 1450g for a full unlocked ascended set that would became “LEGENDARY” (at least in its functionality, not asking for the cool skins).

Overwriting != Progression.

I hear this many times where people ask, “Should I make ascended weapons or should I save up for making legendaries”? If the ascended tier was done right, that kind of question wouldn’t even be asked at all! Ascended should have been a natural progression towards legendary but yet they are designed as a separate alternative to screw with us.

And I don’t buy this BS about “it goes against what GW2 is about” which is a statement designed just to make the anti-gear grind crowd feel good. If they truly care so much what GW2 is about, then they shouldn’t have introduced ascended gear in the first place!

The ascended tier right now is a broken tier, neither here nor there. Too expensive and not useful enough to compel most players to craft them. They might as well just scrap it!

LOL… reading your posts in this specific thread, am I right in assuming you had all your ascended gear crafted already and was just salivating at the thought of kittening over noobs in WvW with your new 10% boost ? :-)

I actually agree with your point on ANet being all wishy washy over what they want to do with Ascended gear (either they are for it, or they’re not). But as one of the “anti-gear grind crowd” you referred to, can’t say I’m sorry to see those planned changes being cancelled.

This is great! I crafted a few ascended sets, and one of which just sits in my bank. Also glad I held onto my ascended chests with unwanted stats; I had considered vendoring them for 1 gold a while ago. I guess it’s a good idea to hang onto all those fractal rings as well. Since we do get those frequently, I would be content with simply allowing us to mystic forge four rings.

Aw, I was kind of kind of hoping that would go to rings and trinkets as well. Oh well, my Rabid set is almost complete!

Terrorsquad.4802:

callidus.7085:

Terrorsquad.2349:

Sad, my 8 Legendaries are worth less then. I always saw Legendaries not only as a cool skin, but also as a great utility to invest in, changing stats.

Now Legendaries arent even unique anymore, except for the skin and +1 Infusion slot…

Legendaries get a free stat switch any time you want outside of combat. This new ascended stat switching requires you to Mystic Forge the item with the insignia for the stats you want (ascended insignia, not cheap) 5 ectos and 10 of the new shards… and you don’t keep the runes or sigils or infusions that are in the original item. I think legendaries still have a LOT going for them… so… make like a Reaper and Chill?

I know we can change legendaries stats. You’re not getting the point; this was what legendaries made so unique despite the skins.

It will cost people alot of gold to change stats, you can do it for free with legendries. I had a look last night, if you wanted to change some thing to Zojja, it will cost 48g just fir the insignia. And that would the price for every item you wanted to change + the cost of ecto if you don’t have any.

Only 5% as always then… wow really disappointing and thanks to the lazy people who also probably find PVE hard and most likely never touch Fractals since you can’t stack in one spot the whole day like everywhere else in PVE, or they keep dying in WvW and they have to blame something except their “skill” if any.
Legendaries should be given something really good so Ascended gear can freely change stats.

BrotherBelial.3094:

I had a look last night, if you wanted to change some thing to Zojja, it will cost 48g just fir the insignia.

It will use Exotic insignia, not the ascended one.

As someone who’s not a great fan of crafting a feel a little ticked off being excluded from a whole tier of weapons and armour unless I grind my least favourite activity for it, please allow ascended to be aquired through other forms of gameplay, doesnt have to be any easier just possible.

Talon Silverhawk.3574:

As someone who’s not a great fan of crafting a feel a little ticked off being excluded from a whole tier of weapons and armour unless I grind my least favourite activity for it, please allow ascended to be aquired through other forms of gameplay, doesnt have to be any easier just possible.

You can get ascended boxes from champ bags, lost bandit chests in the silverwastes, fractals, Tequatal, Triple trouble, sPvP reward chests, WvW rank up chests.

I’m sure there are others too.

khani.4786:

Talon Silverhawk.3574:

As someone who’s not a great fan of crafting a feel a little ticked off being excluded from a whole tier of weapons and armour unless I grind my least favourite activity for it, please allow ascended to be aquired through other forms of gameplay, doesnt have to be any easier just possible.

You can get ascended boxes from champ bags, lost bandit chests in the silverwastes, fractals, Tequatal, Triple trouble, sPvP reward chests, WvW rank up chests.

I’m sure there are others too.

And while this method is not really useful now (as it tends to give you stats you wouldn’t want to use), with the upcoming change it will become at least a bit better. The chances will still be really low, but at least it won’t be behind double rng anymore.

khani.4786:

Talon Silverhawk.3574:

As someone who’s not a great fan of crafting a feel a little ticked off being excluded from a whole tier of weapons and armour unless I grind my least favourite activity for it, please allow ascended to be aquired through other forms of gameplay, doesnt have to be any easier just possible.

You can get ascended boxes from champ bags, lost bandit chests in the silverwastes, fractals, Tequatal, Triple trouble, sPvP reward chests, WvW rank up chests.

I’m sure there are others too.

I have done lots of the above and have never seen an ascended drop, RNGesus should not be the only other way.

Terrorsquad.4802:

callidus.7085:

Terrorsquad.4802:

callidus.7085:

Terrorsquad.2349:

Sad, my 8 Legendaries are worth less then. I always saw Legendaries not only as a cool skin, but also as a great utility to invest in, changing stats.

Now Legendaries arent even unique anymore, except for the skin and +1 Infusion slot…

Legendaries get a free stat switch any time you want outside of combat. This new ascended stat switching requires you to Mystic Forge the item with the insignia for the stats you want (ascended insignia, not cheap) 5 ectos and 10 of the new shards… and you don’t keep the runes or sigils or infusions that are in the original item. I think legendaries still have a LOT going for them… so… make like a Reaper and Chill?

I know we can change legendaries stats. You’re not getting the point; this was what legendaries made so unique despite the skins.

I’d like to say.. No. You’re not getting the point. Legendaries are still unique… because of what I said. They still hold a unique advantage over ascended items even if ascended items can have their stats swapped from a Mystic Forge recipe.

With Legendaries the swapping is free and convenient. With Ascended it’s expensive and inconvenient.

It’s crafting 25% of a new ascended item… You’re just not having to cover the cost of the blade, the hilt (in a sword example), or the vision crystal. That helps reduce the cost.. sure.. but you still need to BUY or CRAFT the insignia whose stats you want. You also can’t do this out and about… you have to do it at a Mystic Forge.

Legendaries are still superior and have a unique advantage, end of story.

Lol.. Swapping stats on ascended is expensive? Ever made a legendary?
Swapping asc stats is like doing 1% worth of going through a Legendary..

This is what u dont get: Nobody will ever swap asc stands on its armor/weps for 50 times, unless he’s an idiot and likes to pain himself.

Result: You can swap stats just like legendary but you dont need legendary to do it, u only have to do 1min work of MF.

It’s not like ppl with legendaries swap stats 20 times a day, I only do it once every 3-5months, depending on the patches.

TL:DR: we need to pay +3000gold to have a “Legendary” weapon where we can swap stats where other will only have to pay 40-80g per piece with 1min work of Mkitten. Its not like ppl change stats every day, most do it every balance patch (roughly once every 6 months). And certainly biggest part sticking to Berserker’s anyway (for PvE).

Legendaries has lots their “uniqueness” quite long ago, excluding skin-wise.

Yes.. I have made a legendary. The Flameseeker Prophecies, love that shield. Anyways… It doesn’t matter what the initial investment was… it’s still free on Legendaries. I pretty much never change the stats on it… but I think that will change with the patch as I’ll be experimenting more with builds and that freedom is nice. You don’t like the change, I get it. Sorry you don’t. I do and I think it works better for many people. It doesn’t make me value my legendary any less… maybe it does for you, sorry you see it that way.

Im liking this, finaly it really doesnt matter which box you end up getting as a drop…allthought, i wish you could slot runes/sigils out freely. It feels stupid to craft separate zerker set for wvw because if different runes :/ could we get this as well? I meän, no one uses the tp thingy because it costs more than any rune atm…

What I would really love to see is a way to recycle ascended trinkets, even if they have a chance to give exotics. Just something for all the random trinkets we get from fractals and have no use. Maybe a recipe that requires 1 random trinket and some other mats and gives you a random exotic armor, weapon or trinket piece. Can also have chances for rare stuff or just raw mats, I don’t know I am just throwing ideas here. The recipe could even require Dragonite Ore, so this could be a way to get some use for that mat as well.

This thread is a little TL;DR by now, but I’m jumping on to say that I think this is the best news I’ve heard since HoT was announced. Thank you so much for this!

ColinJohanson.2394:

Just want to clarify since I saw this come up a couple of times in this thread and we haven’t actually released our full official patch notes for 6/23 yet….

Ascended Gear will be staying 5% better than Exotic Gear. Gear beyond the tiers we already have are not going to be added and our existing tiers won’t change, they won’t be our main end-game form of progression for your characters/account for all the reasons we’ve covered before – it isn’t what we think Gw2 is about.

Masteries is being added to PvE to help provide this system as our form of progression for PvE moving forward, and the WvW ability system exists for WvW and will be what we use to expand WvW in the future.

To more directly answer some of your point….We are adding a system that lets you change the stats for your ascended gear (weapons and armor) next Tuesday – which will cost a combination of 10 spirit shards, piece you don’t want anymore, 5 ectos, and an exotic insignia of the stats you want to convert to. Legendary Gear will remain the gear that can freely change stats any time.

-CJ
(Edited to clarify weapons and armor)

The press client requires an ascended inscription / insignia, which one is true?

http://i.imgur.com/OsH2brA.jpg

ColinJohanson.2394:

To more directly answer some of your point….We are adding a system that lets you change the stats for your ascended gear (weapons and armor) next Tuesday – which will cost a combination of 10 spirit shards, piece you don’t want anymore, 5 ectos, and an exotic insignia of the stats you want to convert to. Legendary Gear will remain the gear that can freely change stats any time.

-CJ
(Edited to clarify weapons and armor)

In the preview stream it requires an Ascended Insignia. Was this changed or is this a mistake? Many of us have invested in exotic insignia based on what you told us.

Wiz.1543:

The press client requires an ascended inscription / insignia, which one is true?

http://i.imgur.com/OsH2brA.jpg

This please. If it’s ascended insignias/inscriptions rather than exotic my day just got ruined.

Text bug http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3aq3bd/from_the_preview_stream_you_need_ascended/csew5rz

ColinJohanson.2394:

This is for weapon and armor currently – weapons use the same recipe as armor to stat change except they use inscriptions to allow you to change instead of insignias.

Alas yes it does destroy the runes and sigils in the item, the mystic forge doesn’t currently have a way to allow us to do this kind of stat changing without it working that way.

Also: Shout out to Matt P and Linsey who did all the hard work to make this possible

I assume trinket’s will remain stat-unchangeable, I’m ok with that (if not prefer it) BUT just wanted to double check / confirm

That Guy.5704:

Text bug http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3aq3bd/from_the_preview_stream_you_need_ascended/csew5rz

Thank you God.
THE DREAM IS STILL ALIVE

Talon Silverhawk.3574:

khani.4786:

Talon Silverhawk.3574:

As someone who’s not a great fan of crafting a feel a little ticked off being excluded from a whole tier of weapons and armour unless I grind my least favourite activity for it, please allow ascended to be aquired through other forms of gameplay, doesnt have to be any easier just possible.

You can get ascended boxes from champ bags, lost bandit chests in the silverwastes, fractals, Tequatal, Triple trouble, sPvP reward chests, WvW rank up chests.

I’m sure there are others too.

I have done lots of the above and have never seen an ascended drop, RNGesus should not be the only other way.

You can get ascended gear from achievements too!

That Guy.5704:

Text bug http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3aq3bd/from_the_preview_stream_you_need_ascended/csew5rz

Thanks!

I think Im the only one who sad about we are not getting %10 buff… :p

I will always think that asacended gear must be more powerful… Im still think that Im wasted tons of gold for my charactes for ascended gear.

I was disappointed at the revised announcement (staying at 5% instead of 10%) then I looked at all the useless ascended boxes in my bank and got a huge smile on my face

I wasn’t happy about the supposed 10% increase, so keeping it the same is good news, and there’s going to be a way to change stats on ascended gear?

This is fantastic.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Gear beyond the tiers we already have are not going to be added and our existing tiers won’t change, they won’t be our main end-game form of progression for your characters/account for all the reasons we’ve covered before – it isn’t what we think Gw2 is about.

I pre-ordered the ultimate edition just for this comment.

ColinJohanson.2394:

This is for weapon and armor currently – weapons use the same recipe as armor to stat change except they use inscriptions to allow you to change instead of insignias.

Alas yes it does destroy the runes and sigils in the item, the mystic forge doesn’t currently have a way to allow us to do this kind of stat changing without it working that way.

Also: Shout out to Matt P and Linsey who did all the hard work to make this possible

Might we beg of you then to please massively reduce the gem cost of the single use extractors and or revamp them to provide multiple charges like a BL Salvage kit?

Thanks for the thought though and good work M and L on stat changing option.

DarkSpirit.7046:

Erick Alastor.3917:

They could even evolve in the legendary tier when you “unlock” them all.
Let’s say ~20 sets: ~500g for the first set + ~50g per set “upgrade” * 19 = 1450g for a full unlocked ascended set that would became “LEGENDARY” (at least in its functionality, not asking for the cool skins).

Overwriting != Progression.

I hear this many times where people ask, “Should I make ascended weapons or should I save up for making legendaries”? If the ascended tier was done right, that kind of question wouldn’t even be asked at all! Ascended should have been a natural progression towards legendary but yet they are designed as a separate alternative to screw with us.

And I don’t buy this BS about “it goes against what GW2 is about” which is a statement designed just to make the anti-gear grind crowd feel good. If they truly care so much what GW2 is about, then they shouldn’t have introduced ascended gear in the first place!

The ascended tier right now is a broken tier, neither here nor there. Too expensive and not useful enough to compel most players to craft them. They might as well just scrap it!

Honestly I believe that implementing what I suggested would go in a completely different direction than the “gear grind”. Indeed it will reduce the cost of new sets and help people to experiment with more builds. It wouldn’t be like adding more power to your current set, but just more flexibility, which is (imo) a form of horizontal progression.

Erick Alastor.3917:

@DarkSpirit:
Honestly I believe that implementing what I suggested would go in a completely different direction than the “gear grind”. Indeed it will reduce the cost of new sets and help people to experiment with more builds. It wouldn’t be like adding more power to your current set, but just more flexibility, which is (imo) a form of horizontal progression.

And that in itself would be an improvement over the current situation. It doesn’t make sense that precursors for legendaries would have to be 2 tiers down and that players would have to choose between its cheaper ascended and its better-looking but more-expensive legendary.

THIS already goes against what GW2 is about if you look at the numerous examples where you upgrade an item using its original, as part of the recipe, into a more advanced version.

As far as the 5/10% is concerned, I have absolutely no qualms removing the ascended if exotics stats would be the top tier. Why didn’t they stop at exotics if they really believe in what GW2 is about? Otherwise, if ascended is really supposed to be the top tier and a lot more expensive to craft than exotics, then make ascended items really worth crafting for crying out loud! I don’t see how making a top tier that is BOTH expensive craft but not actually worth crafting to be upholding what GW2 is about.

This is also why players have been asking for bloodstone eater, empyreal eater, and now dragonite eater. Many of them are avoiding to craft ascended items because they don’t feel that ascended items are worth their while to craft! Is going the “eaters” route then the solution to the broken ascended tier and is that really what GW2 is about?

DiogoSilva.7089:

That’s why I and many people think free stat swapping, or account-unlocking stats (wardrobe-esque), or anything of the sort, would be pretty cool for ascended.

I am as radically Jacobinian anti-ascended armor as they come, and I would support this in a heartbeat.