Guild Wars 2

Edit: A bunch of people had a much better suggestion to give Ascended items the same stats as exotics, basically only having the infusion slot as the extra perk/dungeon necessity. While it accomplishes the same thing (not making current gear obsolete in the rest of the game), this implementation makes more sense by introducing an “optional” niche grind that only affects dungeons.

The only way for Anet to save face now is to offer free optional upgrades for soulbound exotic gear acquired prior to the patch up to ascended quality.

Many players have had their exotic items for between 2-6 weeks. If you took your time leveling multiple characters and enjoying the early game, it’s likely that you haven’t had a full exotic set for more than a month at this point. It was made clear from the beginning that exotic was the highest quality of gear (stat wise), and once you had a full set you wouldn’t NEED to get anything else. This “endgame” designation for exotic items caused the price to be greatly inflated, both on the trading post and on karma NPCs. Each item costs between 2-6 gold (depending on when it was purchased), and 42K karma for armor. If you have multiple sets of gear, such as solo, dungeon, and WvW sets, AND multiple characters, the overall cost becomes quite high.

Now with ascended items being the new exotics, exotics are basically the new masterwork, making them relatively worthless compared to their previous value. Considering how new the game is and the short amount of time people have had their “best in slot” gear, adding any upgrades at this point without some type of free upgrade or refund is completely unacceptable. Even if it’s just rings, everyone who purchased them on the TP wasted a considerable amount of gold.

For example, I have 2 80s with full exotics and multiple sets. My main has solo PvE, dungeon, and WvW sets of gear, and my alt has a dungeon and WvW set of gear. Together that’s 10 exotic rings. At an average cost of 2.5g, that means I wasted 25 gold in rings alone. That is not an insignificant amount of gold, and if you think it is, put your money where your mouth is and send me some. Had I known that Ascended items were coming and exotics would start becoming obsolete within a couple months, I would have made some very different choices.

MMOs live or die by the confidence players have in the game. Confidence that their character will still be there the next time they log in. Confidence that their achievements, currency, and items won’t randomly change or disappear one day for no reason. Confidence that the knowledge they have acquired won’t suddenly become obsolete with no warning or reason. Do you think World of Warcraft would have become anywhere near as popular if the Tier 1 and 2 raid sets were suddenly replaced by tier 2.5 two months into the game? I think not, and that’s exactly what Anet has done, except to EVERYONE.

Of course not everyone has lost faith in Anet over this choice to introduce a new quality of gear so early in the game, but many have. The 85k view 8k post thread on the general forum proves that this is a controversial issue with many people on both sides. I for one will completely lose confidence in the longevity of GW2 over this if something isn’t done to restore it.

I doubt it will be “free”, but I’m hoping that part of the update allows players to upgrade existing Exotic items by putting them in the Mystic Forge along with special Infusion items (which are obtained by crafting). This creates an Ascended tier item with the same appearance of the Exotic item, and comes with a new Infusion slot.

I second Zaxares’ suggestion. This will ensure that exotic items remain relevant in the process of item progression and it will reduce grind. Exotic items, after all, are not that cheap (despite the boasts of some players that they can get their full exotic sets in two hours or something).

Also, this will keep existing content related to exotic items (e.g. dungeons) relevant. It would be a waste to see them fall to the wayside because exotic items become obsoleted.

The dungeon gear was mostly for its looks, not its stats, anyway, so I don’t see why they’d become obsolete.

Sylv.5324:

The dungeon gear was mostly for its looks, not its stats, anyway, so I don’t see why they’d become obsolete.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but there are some combinations of stats that are available only through dungeons and hard to get sources (e.g. WvW and named exotic drops). These dungeons would be totally obsolete if they no longer offered an Ascended-tier alternative to those combinations of stats.

Sylv.5324:

The dungeon gear was mostly for its looks, not its stats, anyway, so I don’t see why they’d become obsolete.

You customized your armor stats by crafting exotic level armor. You did dungeons for the looks, because most people already have specialized sets of armor. Now they have to get new specialized sets of armor.

No, the obvious thing to do is:

• remove any/all stat differences between exotic and ascended gear – 8% better is not acceptable
• make agony resist into a set of runes, or make any armour infusable

They could have always just added infusion slots to all existing exotics/legendaries, since the infusion slots are what’s supposed to be the actual “progression” aspect of it anyway. From my understanding, legendaries had no statistical advantage over exotics prior to the upcoming patch which is changing things, so statistically there was no need for something “in between exotics and legendaries”.

The problem a lot of people seem to be having is that they probably bought gems or grinded or whatever for various sets of exotics under the belief (based on A-Net’s prior statements) that exotics would be the best there was statistically. There’s a big difference, to many people at least, between paying real money or spending valuable time on a permanent and final upgrade vs a very temporary upgrade.

WvW exotics are pretty good for melee toons, especially for someone who has no idea what to spec. Power/Toughness/Vitality.

This would probably be the* best solution*.

People who want to treadmill themselves up still can do it and “have fun” grinding.
Those who don’t aren’t forced to.

Why don’t they give grinders a sparkling star next to that pink weapon name, so they can brag with getting it the difficult way?
As an sPvPer I couldn’t care less as long as my WvW gear isn’t set into trashcan mode.
——————————————————————
Really, the whole issue conglomerates in two words -WvW balance-.
sPvPers who painfully grinded their exotics for WvW are now cut off of half of their content, unless they waste their time each Ascended patch (further progression already has been announced) to grind new armosets.

mjharrison.3209:

No, the obvious thing to do is:

• remove any/all stat differences between exotic and ascended gear – 8% better is not acceptable
• make agony resist into a set of runes, or make any armour infusable

This! imho, Exotic, Ascenced and Legendary should all be identical in stats, and the only differences should be in the rarity of their skins (just as ArenaNet originally said it would be). They all should get the additional infusion slot for Agony or whatever… people should never be forced to upgrade from their current exotic gear to ascended/legendary just to be able to do the new content.
People who want to grind, can grind for the rarer ascended or legendary gear, and show off with those rare skins in the game.

Cheiron the Centaur.1829:

mjharrison.3209:

No, the obvious thing to do is:

• remove any/all stat differences between exotic and ascended gear – 8% better is not acceptable
• make agony resist into a set of runes, or make any armour infusable

This! imho, Exotic, Ascenced and Legendary should all be identical in stats, and the only differences should be in the rarity of their skins (just as ArenaNet originally said it would be). They all should get the additional infusion slot for Agony or whatever… people should never be forced to upgrade from their current exotic gear to ascended/legendary just to be able to do the new content.
People who want to grind, can grind for the rarer ascended or legendary gear, and show off with those rare skins in the game.

But didn’t you know, without the stats they aren’t worth getting lol

Op, while I agree with you that your suggestion would allow Arenanet to save face and maybe calm down its customers, I do not think they will do it.

Why? Because of the reasoning they gave for this change. They are adding this new gear tier to give people something new to work towards. By giving it better stats, they have sadly acknowledged that a certain number of current and prospective customers did/do not like their horizontal progression – getting better gear for cosmetic purposes only.

Therefore, they are offering new gear with better stats for those people – its keeps them coming back and playing for a time.

If they were to allow people to upgrade their exotics to ascended, what would motivate the “stat” people to pursue ascended. Going to the forge would take a few minutes. While getting Ascended could take days, weeks or months, depending upon your playstyle. They are doing this to keep the “power creepers” engaged.

No matter which side you are on, I wish people would acknowledge who this change it for. It is not for those that believe “cosmetics” is enough and the real incentive in playing a game is for fun. It is for people who need carrots, who need to feel that they are better than others simply because they have better “stats”.

No matter what spin is put on this change, it goes against the highly published Arenanet vision for gear. Worse, I am shocked that this change in direction came after only 3 months. If you are trying to attract new players or get existing to play more, why not retain your design vision but add new content?

They did not even test this out. What I mean is, why did they not simply add new content that adhered to their original design? Then they could have reviewed the statistical results. If it failed to hit their targets, then they could have reevaluated aspects of their design. Also, what would have been so wrong with improving the concept of progression by introducing things other than a new “gear tier?” I have read several posts on this forum that had excellent suggestions on non-gear based progression and extension of the game.

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

ps. I’m wearing full exotics as well and not bothered in the slightest, I’m actaully looking forward to more epic looking gear, ascended then eventual legendary.

Edenwolf.6328:

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

No, most people who bought GW2 did so because they didn’t want vertical gear progression. We are tired of that mmo model. It has nothing to do with wanting free gear, its not wanting new content to be gated and tied to RNG generated gear.

Sylv.5324:

The dungeon gear was mostly for its looks, not its stats, anyway, so I don’t see why they’d become obsolete.

I also believe that they were advertised as legendary-lite. That you’d know someone worked hard if they had a dungeon look. They should definitely have an ascendant upgrade available since they were meant to be, and are, an effort to get.

mjharrison.3209:

No, the obvious thing to do is:

• remove any/all stat differences between exotic and ascended gear – 8% better is not acceptable
• make agony resist into a set of runes, or make any armour infusable

It is absolutely baffling to me that ArenaNet didn’t do exactly this.

I want to stress this: nobody is saying they don’t want progression. There is nobody here, who does not want more cool stuff to do! The problem is when you do power treadmills! Why the hell would I be here if I wanted that sort of item progression?

There are lots of other ways to do progression. Horizontal progression. There is much more to it than power. So why not let people at least by playing the game, allow themselves somehow to work towards upping Exotics into Ascended?

Xpiher.5209:

Edenwolf.6328:

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

No, most people who bought GW2 did so because they didn’t want vertical gear progression. We are tired of that mmo model. It has nothing to do with wanting free gear, its not wanting new content to be gated and tied to RNG generated gear.

I’m sorry, “most” people did not buy gw2 for the reason you stated above, that’s quite the assumption. How do you think mmo’s keep people playing long term? People expect new content like dungeons, new arenas to fight in, more epic stats or appearance items to achieve, it’s all a standard feature in any mmo on the market today to KEEP YOU LOGGED ON. Like it or not, the devs are trying to make their bacon, and do so by keeping you logged on. “But I play for fun and not for gear,” well, many people also enjoy chasing carrots(new gear etc..), you expect the devs to cut those players out entirely by NEVER introducing new tiers of stats or appearance? If you dont want gear inflation found in every mmo, then it’s nice that you have spvp where gear inflation does not reach.

Sad Swordfish.9743:

I want to stress this: nobody is saying they don’t want progression. There is nobody here, who does not want more cool stuff to do! The problem is when you do power treadmills! Why the hell would I be here if I wanted that sort of item progression?

There are lots of other ways to do progression. Horizontal progression. There is much more to it than power. So why not let people at least by playing the game, allow themselves somehow to work towards upping Exotics into Ascended?

I’m completely ok with ascended being on the same tier with exotic, as long as it has more epic looking appearance. I’m not ok with people in exotic expecting free upgrades, when new content is introduced they should do the new content(dungeons etc..) in order to achieve it.

Edenwolf.6328:

Xpiher.5209:

Edenwolf.6328:

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

No, most people who bought GW2 did so because they didn’t want vertical gear progression. We are tired of that mmo model. It has nothing to do with wanting free gear, its not wanting new content to be gated and tied to RNG generated gear.

I’m sorry, “most” people did not buy gw2 for the reason you stated above, that’s quite the assumption. How do you think mmo’s keep people playing long term? People expect new content like dungeons, new arenas to fight in, more epic stats or appearance items to achieve, it’s all a standard feature in any mmo on the market today to KEEP YOU LOGGED ON. Like it or not, the devs are trying to make their bacon, and do so by keeping you logged on. “But I play for fun and not for gear,” well, many people also enjoy chasing carrots(new gear etc..), you expect the devs to cut those players out entirely by NEVER introducing new tiers? If you dont want gear inflation found in every mmo, then you can play spvp where gear inflation does not reach.

You may have missed something, but we don’t pay to log on to GW2. It’s not getting arenanet money to cater to the crowd that lives in the game since they are buying gems with gold, not actual cash.

New stuff = good
New stuff with higher power = bad
Monthly content upgrades = good
Monthly grind PvE grind for PvP players to play WvW = bad
Full exotic set = good
Trashcan your exotic set, cause it’s outclassed = bad
Equality = good
=> Make gear equal= good

Why make it complicated?

The free upgrade was only for Legendaries. My question then becomes if in the future will there still be free upgrades on Legendaries? If that’s the case then I’ll forgo everything else and grind for them because then it will be pointless to do anything else.

KasNova.8936:

Edenwolf.6328:

Xpiher.5209:

Edenwolf.6328:

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

No, most people who bought GW2 did so because they didn’t want vertical gear progression. We are tired of that mmo model. It has nothing to do with wanting free gear, its not wanting new content to be gated and tied to RNG generated gear.

I’m sorry, “most” people did not buy gw2 for the reason you stated above, that’s quite the assumption. How do you think mmo’s keep people playing long term? People expect new content like dungeons, new arenas to fight in, more epic stats or appearance items to achieve, it’s all a standard feature in any mmo on the market today to KEEP YOU LOGGED ON. Like it or not, the devs are trying to make their bacon, and do so by keeping you logged on. “But I play for fun and not for gear,” well, many people also enjoy chasing carrots(new gear etc..), you expect the devs to cut those players out entirely by NEVER introducing new tiers? If you dont want gear inflation found in every mmo, then you can play spvp where gear inflation does not reach.

You may have missed something, but we don’t pay to log on to GW2. It’s not getting arenanet money to cater to the crowd that lives in the game since they are buying gems with gold, not actual cash.

They don’t cater those that live in the game for money? I can tell you from all my friends and I that log on on the daily, have spent at least 50 dollars in real cash for in game gold, bank spaces, character slots, black lion keys and so on all due to the fact that they have been playing so many hours.

Edenwolf.6328:

KasNova.8936:

Edenwolf.6328:

Xpiher.5209:

Edenwolf.6328:

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

No, most people who bought GW2 did so because they didn’t want vertical gear progression. We are tired of that mmo model. It has nothing to do with wanting free gear, its not wanting new content to be gated and tied to RNG generated gear.

I’m sorry, “most” people did not buy gw2 for the reason you stated above, that’s quite the assumption. How do you think mmo’s keep people playing long term? People expect new content like dungeons, new arenas to fight in, more epic stats or appearance items to achieve, it’s all a standard feature in any mmo on the market today to KEEP YOU LOGGED ON. Like it or not, the devs are trying to make their bacon, and do so by keeping you logged on. “But I play for fun and not for gear,” well, many people also enjoy chasing carrots(new gear etc..), you expect the devs to cut those players out entirely by NEVER introducing new tiers? If you dont want gear inflation found in every mmo, then you can play spvp where gear inflation does not reach.

You may have missed something, but we don’t pay to log on to GW2. It’s not getting arenanet money to cater to the crowd that lives in the game since they are buying gems with gold, not actual cash.

They don’t cater those that live in the game for money? I can tell you from all my friends and I that log on on the daily, have spent at least 50 dollars in real cash for in game gold, bank spaces, character slots, black lion keys and so on all due to the fact that they have been playing so many hours.

I just wanted to add to this for a moment.

Happy gamers = money spenders. It really doesn’t matter if they like gear grind or not. The people who are happily enjoying the game will spend money to support the game. Arguing who spends in which camp is pointless, both camps spend money as long as they are happily entertained and enjoying the game. The real question is who will be the camp left standing?

You’re a step ahead, this patch will only add rings and back slot so there isn’t much to upgrade.

Zaxares.5419:

I doubt it will be “free”, but I’m hoping that part of the update allows players to upgrade existing Exotic items by putting them in the Mystic Forge along with special Infusion items (which are obtained by crafting). This creates an Ascended tier item with the same appearance of the Exotic item, and comes with a new Infusion slot.

This. No stat increase, simply add an infusion slot and your armor gets ascended, this whole fiasco would be fixed.

Edenwolf.6328:

Xpiher.5209:

Edenwolf.6328:

I actually loled at this topic title, you want free ascended gear? No. Mmo’s grow, and so will you. It’s a formula us mmo gamers are all accustom to and it’s essential to give the game longevity. Every time new gear tiers are introduced, it’s always funny to see how those in end game feel “entitled” to free upgrades XD.

No, most people who bought GW2 did so because they didn’t want vertical gear progression. We are tired of that mmo model. It has nothing to do with wanting free gear, its not wanting new content to be gated and tied to RNG generated gear.

I’m sorry, “most” people did not buy gw2 for the reason you stated above, that’s quite the assumption. How do you think mmo’s keep people playing long term? People expect new content like dungeons, new arenas to fight in, more epic stats or appearance items to achieve, it’s all a standard feature in any mmo on the market today to KEEP YOU LOGGED ON. Like it or not, the devs are trying to make their bacon, and do so by keeping you logged on. “But I play for fun and not for gear,” well, many people also enjoy chasing carrots(new gear etc..), you expect the devs to cut those players out entirely by NEVER introducing new tiers of stats or appearance? If you dont want gear inflation found in every mmo, then it’s nice that you have spvp where gear inflation does not reach.

ANET advertised their game as not having vertical progression in gear. And the fact that you think the only way to keep people playing is by offering them more powerful gear is the problem with the MMO market. How about more story content? How about Dungeon progression? How about a long epic quest that gets you a house plot that’s customizable? How about a gear plateau with ever expanding levels?

But the point is, if I want gear treadmill I would play games like Rift, WoW, WAR, AoC, etc. I don’t play those games because I hate gear treadmills. So it looks like I’ll have to wait for a good sandbox game to come out because GW2 was my last hope for a themepark game to finally break the mold of hamster wheel gear treadmills

I don’t want anything handed out to me for free. What I prefer is simply that they don’t make gear in the new dungeon the same level as exotic. Make legendary armor and weapons again about skins and not stats.

If they make it about stats then everyone will feel that they need to work for it in order to stay competitive which will be contrary to what the game was about. Legendary was supposed to be optional. When you make it a statistical advantage then it is no longer truly optional.

Yes because a free upgrade is totally what they were going for when they wanted to add progression and something to work towards.

Dungeon armor is for the looks, so it won’t be obsolete.

mjharrison.3209:

No, the obvious thing to do is:

• remove any/all stat differences between exotic and ascended gear – 8% better is not acceptable
• make agony resist into a set of runes, or make any armour infusable

This… perfect solution

It’s a minor addition to the game (only three slots), and yet everyone is so intent upon making a big deal out of it. You want them to make your exotics ascended quality at some point? Tell you what, go to the BLTC (if you miraculously escaped not having some at this point) and buy some Fine Transmutation Stone(s). Transmute your gear, voila, you’ve got Ascended Dungeon Gear. Isn’t it cool how that works?

Face it, you’d have to replace it at some point eventually. They made it clear at release they would be adding an increase to the level cap eventually, and with that would come new equipment. Would you want them to upgrade your gear to maximum level for the stats then too?

If so then you’re just asking for handouts.

It does not cheapen your work, it does not minimize your effort. Not in the least. Nor does it completely “imbalance” the game. You’re afraid of WvWvW issues? Don’t worry, they’re probably releasing it in stages to avoid just that. It’s not a gear treadmill until they’ve begun adding multiple new tiers of equipment. When that happens, that’s when you have the right to be outraged. Until then, suck it up with the rest of us and do exactly what this game was built on the concept of. Have fun.

Sdric.8526:

Why don’t they give grinders a sparkling star next to that pink weapon name, so they can brag with getting it the difficult way?

So you mean legendary weapons? They’re pretty sparkly, stand out and there’s a huge grind to get them.

While I am neutral about this whole patch, infusion similar to that of GW would be acceptable. No new tier needed. Just run a dungeon or instanced ‘quest’ similar to PS and you have your protection against fractal enemies. Obviously, they would need to make it somewhat challenging of course.

Terrible suggestion, no offense. If it really were the “only way for ANet to save face” it would be because their player base is a lazy and entitled bunch. Which, I’d like to think we are not, but the past few days have really made me question it.

TheIronFistOfDeath.3016:

Terrible suggestion, no offense. If it really were the “only way for ANet to save face” it would be because their player base is a lazy and entitled bunch. Which, I’d like to think we are not, but the past few days have really made me question it.

There’s a world of difference between wanting gear handouts and wanting a game free of a gear treadmill.

From the discussion above, it seems that players would rather the stats of Ascended items be the same as exotics. That’s not lazy and entitled. Players just want to have the game free of gear grind—the game marketed to them.

TheIronFistOfDeath.3016:

Terrible suggestion, no offense. If it really were the “only way for ANet to save face” it would be because their player base is a lazy and entitled bunch. Which, I’d like to think we are not, but the past few days have really made me question it.

We are entitled to welfare exotics and not having to do any challenging work to get them! /sarcasm

If Ascended gear were exotics with the protection against the new dungeon’s enemy, the majority of you would still complain. “QQ, we were promised we wouldn’t have a mandatory grind to get gear to do everything in the game (except Legendarys)”.

Magiofdeath.2745:

If Ascended gear were exotics with the protection against the new dungeon’s enemy, the majority of you would still complain. “QQ, we were promised we wouldn’t have a mandatory grind to get gear to do everything in the game (except Legendarys)”.

But the impact of dungeon-specific bonuses would be so much smaller. It wouldn’t impact WvW or the rest of PvE.

Also, there are already dungeon-specific bonuses—e.g. those sigils with +% damage to particular enemies found in dungeons. Those don’t get any complaints.

axiology.5807:

Magiofdeath.2745:

If Ascended gear were exotics with the protection against the new dungeon’s enemy, the majority of you would still complain. “QQ, we were promised we wouldn’t have a mandatory grind to get gear to do everything in the game (except Legendarys)”.

But the impact of dungeon-specific bonuses would be so much smaller. It wouldn’t impact WvW or the rest of PvE.

Also, there are already dungeon-specific bonuses—e.g. those sigils with +% damage to particular enemies found in dungeons. Those don’t get any complaints.

True, but those sigils are just… I hate when I get them as drops.

They are planning on bringing ascended crap to rest of PvE and WvW I believe. Whatever, I like my idea of implementing no new tier and adding a challenging way to get infusion, similar to GW1 but more challenging.

axiology.5807:

TheIronFistOfDeath.3016:

Terrible suggestion, no offense. If it really were the “only way for ANet to save face” it would be because their player base is a lazy and entitled bunch. Which, I’d like to think we are not, but the past few days have really made me question it.

There’s a world of difference between wanting gear handouts and wanting a game free of a gear treadmill.

From the discussion above, it seems that players would rather the stats of Ascended items be the same as exotics. That’s not lazy and entitled. Players just want to have the game free of gear grind—the game marketed to them.

This is still far from a gear grind as far as we know. We don’t know drop rates or anything concrete. Everyone is just paranoid it’ll be like WoW where, yes, you do have to run a dungeon or raid a couple dozen times or more to get all your gear. So far, we’re talking about 1 piece that is craft-able and 1 piece that is a drop inside the dungeon. A dungeon that gets more difficult the more you play it and you start with your exotics or whatever you have. Meaning, it’s entirely possible, if not probable, that you will get the ring through regular gameplay well before you require it due to Agony.

There’s just so much up in the air and, as usual, the MMO community starts freaking out because this meaningless task, done for entertainment, might suddenly be slightly more meaningless because there’s something marginally better (about 8%, I’m reading so far).

Yeah, kinda with Iron fist here, but I really shouldn’t be surprised. EVERY MMO has players like this that threaten they’re going to quit but actually don’t due to a patch. Crap, even GW had this outcry at some skill changes and it survived for 7 years and still does kinda. Same song and dance. SSDD.

Go play Fragments of the Mist and earn your ascended gear like everyone else.

I find this topic to be truly bizarre.

You do know that in the beginning the only ascended gear will be rings and back armor, right? The back armor has, perhaps, the most appeal. I think you will find the rings have a miniscule stat advantage over fully enhanced Exotic rings. Infusions mean ZERO/NADA outside of Fragments of the Mist, so they don’t even figure into the equation for those who don’t plan on running the dungeon.

In case you missed it, FotM is accessed via a portal in Lion’s Arch, so is very accessible and it even offers level scaling to level 80, in a similar fashion to WvW scaling, which will make it easy for more players to participate, even if a true level 80 with exotics will have a much better chance of getting deeper into the dungeon.

Put in proper context, Ascended gear isn’t anything to complain or worry about. FotM is a very exciting addition to the game and it’s too bad so many people are missing that because they have become obsessed over what is essentially a non-issue.

Fiontar.4695:

Go play Fragments of the Mist and earn your ascended gear like everyone else.

I find this topic to be truly bizarre.

You do know that in the beginning the only ascended gear will be rings and back armor, right? The back armor has, perhaps, the most appeal. I think you will find the rings have a miniscule stat advantage over fully enhanced Exotic rings. Infusions mean ZERO/NADA outside of Fragments of the Mist, so they don’t even figure into the equation for those who don’t plan on running the dungeon.

In case you missed it, FotM is accessed via a portal in Lion’s Arch, so is very accessible and it even offers level scaling to level 80, in a similar fashion to WvW scaling, which will make it easy for more players to participate, even if a true level 80 with exotics will have a much better chance of getting deeper into the dungeon.

Put in proper context, Ascended gear isn’t anything to complain or worry about. FotM is a very exciting addition to the game and it’s too bad so many people are missing that because they have become obsessed over what is essentially a non-issue.

I’m more excited about nerfs/buff/tweaks/makeover they gonna do over the different professions.

From the tracker, alot of bug fixes are also being bundled together in the same patch.

Ascended equipments are fine, as long as it takes some quality grind to acquire and not a RNG drop/creation…

My wish of getting them to implement zone-specific rare/exotic drops from lower leveled zones remains unrepresented T_T

If they just add this one concept above exotics, for the purpose of meeting some criteria of how long they think you should take to become max statted at level 80, it’s not a big deal if you just play one character and don’t switch builds/stats around much.

What I don’t like though, is that this was really the only game where it’s not all that difficult to have multiple max characters, all with multiple sets of gear for different things (survivability, healing, pure damage) etc. Sure it wasn’t handed to you, it takes time, but it was still practical. Now that might be taken away.