Guild Wars 2

Cyninja.2954:

Astralporing.1957:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Who needs ascended stats! lets make them the same as exotics!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold for exotics? Don’t I deserve to get exotic stats with the same amount of effort as rare stats?

Who needs exotics stats! lets make them the same as rare!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold for rares? Don’t I deserve to get rare stats with the same amount of effort as masterwork stats?

Who needs rare stats! lets make them the same as masterwork!

…but wait… why do I need to grind silver for masterwork? Don’t I deserve to get masterwork stats with the same amount of effort as blue stats?

Who needs masterwork stats! lets make them the same as blues!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold to level crafting? Don’t I deserve to have 500 crafting in every profession? I thought this game was about fun not grinding?

Who needs to level crafting! level 500 for everyone!

but wait… why do I need to spend time and gold to level my character? Don’t I deserve to be level 80 immediately? Why do I have to grind to level 80?

Who needs levels! instant 80 for everyone!

And that’s pretty much how it worked in GW1. And, funny thing, people liked it that way.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

yeah come to think of it your idea isn’t very fun… I think i’ll stick with how the game was meant to be.

Originally it was meant to be closer to the GW1 progression idea. So yeah, i also would rather stick to how it was meant to be before ascended got released.

Your and my experience or memory of GW1 must be very different. Yes, crafting the very basic armor was quite cheap, still 4-10 plat as far as I remember. But putting in decent runes (especially max vigor) would easily set you back 60-90 plat (30-50 plat of that for the superior vigor rune).

An amount that took quite a while to farm unless you were very hardcore into trading.

Take off the pink glasses or memory.

Indeed, getting Superior Vigor runes on at least 8 characters, 1 main + the 7 heroes he will be playing with was no cheap thing. Then you need them for your alts and their heroes too, it gets expensive quickly.

Same goes with getting all those perfect mods for your main character (and all your heroes too) and all their possible builds, unless you only play the same thing over and over.

If you wanted to min-max this is the equal to Ascended:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Perfect

By no means easy to come by and not cheap, especially since you need to equip multiple characters (heroes)

Dante.1763:

Azala Yar.7693:

What if they redesigned them, so that they looked a lot better with better effects?

After all some of those with them say the stats are not important.

Not even then would those i know stick around, they crafted it because the stats are slightly better and they currently have nothing better to do or better to spend their mats on. As for improving them, thats unlikely to happen(Highly, Highly unlikely), look at how long Charr players have been asking for armor to be revamped so it fits them(Aka: Since the game has came out.)

Edit: Again its about the backlash, if ANET decided to pull Ascended armor stats it would be huge amount because of the massive number of people who crafted it because it was BIS.

They wouldn’t need to pull it – they would just need to add a second tier of exotics that equal it (or just bump up the existing exotics to do so).

That is what happens with gear progression, in other games; the new tier lower gear becomes as good as (or better than) the old tier higher gear.

Then they could justifiably say “You wanted gear progression like other games? Well, you got it.”.

Not saying they will do this, but they could have.

Obtaining “perfect” for one’s characters in GW outside of the Superior Vigor Rune became trivial after the introduction of inscriptions so that one could get the 15^50 mod for weapons. In fact, my gearing experience in GW was very similar to gaining Exotics in this game in terms of ease of access. As it is, I also have ~8-10 Superior Vigor Runes across two accounts just from drops. In GW2, Ascended armor/weapon drops: 2, wrong stats.

I’m not in favor of the OP’s stat reduction idea. I’m not in favor (anymore) or getting rid of Asc. I’m not even asking for better drop rates for the weapons/armor. But is it too much to ask that if I actually get one of those rare drops, I might actually want to use it rather than bank it against the perfect storm moment that the stats might actually be desirable?

nolop.8095:

HoT is the perfect opportunity to up the stats of exotics to be on par with ascended items.

So why not white armor?

Why exotic, if you believe in one level of armor?
or green? or blue? why not just rare?

In short, why do you accept 5 levels of armor differentiation but draw the line at 6??

Oh, wait…you can buy your armor with Master Card through exotic, but they won’t let you buy ascended??

Ah….I think I get it now.

Those with ascended actually play the game. Those who don’t issue statements like “I don’t really have all that much time to play” and plunk down MC or Visa for the same experience.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

You are correct it was originally supposed to be like GW1… then the game started hemorrhaging players faster than 25 stacks of bleeding due to lack of end game goals. They stitched that problem up with ascended gear and the population stabilized.

Nah, if anything, ascended release made people leave even faster.Population stabilized only much later on, and mostly due to the Living Story. And even that wasn’t good enough longterm – which is why we’re waiting for an expansion right now.

Astralporing.1957:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

You are correct it was originally supposed to be like GW1… then the game started hemorrhaging players faster than 25 stacks of bleeding due to lack of end game goals. They stitched that problem up with ascended gear and the population stabilized.

Nah, if anything, ascended release made people leave even faster.Population stabilized only much later on, and mostly due to the Living Story. And even that wasn’t good enough longterm – which is why we’re waiting for an expansion right now.

I agree with Zudet. I stayed long enough after ascended was put in (it was weapons only back then) to build up 5 character’s worth, then left for the same reason the rest did. There is absolutely nothing to do for an end game. More zerging, with a different evil boss the target in PVE, the same maps in WvW, nothing in any dungeon I couldn’t get without stepping foot into one other than skins, and WB fights that were numbingly boring (Shatterer anyone?) and not enough people to do the WB’s on many of the servers, including mine.

Ascended stalled the departure, but only until it was made, then the end game crisis got many of the rest of us that hadn’t bailed before because of it.

That is the root cause of most departures. It’s like a PC single player game….you get done and move on. In this case, entire groups of playing friends move on.

A Volcano.2510:

Basandra Skye.4031:

By the way, do people realize that “intending” something isnt actually the same as “doing” something? I mean… I intend to get every existing precursor out of the forge (gotten 6 so far actually) by the end of the year. Am I actually going to attempt to do it? Given rng, probably not. Not actively at least. I just like flushing things to see what comes out.

Afterall….. they said they intend to bring back SAB. But……. I dont see it.

edit: stat increases are quite literally meaningless from exotic to ascended, giving as little as +0 increase in damage, or as minor as +10 damage. An ascended weapon vs exotic weapon is a difference of up to 20% damage. Want proof? Go look it up yourself on any of the skill builders out there.

So if the differences are meaningless, we can make them the same, yes?

No, because it would be unnecessary work. I’m certain devs aren’t sitting around waiting for clueless player suggestions like this one to implement.

Michael.9403:

I agree with Zudet. I stayed long enough after ascended was put in (it was weapons only back then) to build up 5 character’s worth, then left for the same reason the rest did. There is absolutely nothing to do for an end game.

Weapons? That was long after what we’re talking about. Ascended, when released (there were only rings and backpack then ) not only didn’t stop people from leaving, but turned away a lot of players that were, up to that point, very glad of the game’s direction. What is worse, it broke something much more important – a sense of trust between the community and developers.
And for no reason at all – it couldn’t do what it was meant to do. Not at the weaksauce version it was introduced at. Ascended gear was not enough to appeal to the vertical progression crowd, but enough to make the horizontal progression fans really unhappy.

Notice, that you yourself have actually confirmed this – ascended weapons didn’t keep you in the game at all. It was the lack of other content that made you leave.

Michael.9403:

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Stat difference is too small to care.

this

This thread proved beyond all doubt that it’s untrue, because everyone here, regardless of side taken, actually seems to care about it.

Michael.9403:

Ah….I think I get it now.

It’s rather obvious that you don’t. But then, i wasn’t expecting you to.

Michael.9403:

Those with ascended actually play the game. Those who don’t issue statements like “I don’t really have all that much time to play” and plunk down MC or Visa for the same experience.

You could buy ascended gear as well. It’s just more expensive. The only component in ascended gear that can’t be bought with gold in some way are obsidian shards, which are a minor karma cost, and legendaries, which are equal to ascended weapons can be bought.

It’s much more likely that it has to with the fact that exotics can be reasonably acquired just playing whatever it is that you feel like. If anything, it’s ascended gear that’s designed to make people part with more money, as it takes unreasonably long to acquire even a single set just by playing the game. It either takes ages, and then has to be repeated for every character that uses a different rune setup unless you want to hemorrhage gold in rune replacement costs, or it costs 350+ gold to buy the materials.

The only people likely to afford multiple sets of it are trading post investors, people that spend hours grinding the most profitable content for the sake of rewards instead of actually playing the game, or, as you said, people who convert gems to gold. With exotics, it wasn’t unreasonable to expect that by the time they reached 80, you could afford a set.

Also, I’d be totally for white armor/weapons being the highest tier. Progression should come from learning to play your class better rather than simply chasing increasing numbers. But, exotic is where the line gets drawn by most because it’s what most people can afford by the time they reach the level at which they wont be outlevelling their gear anymore.

Just a note for all of those saying you dont need ascended gear because you can use trinkets to reach it, you’re forgetting a key fact- a +10 infusion requires 512 +1 infusions. The amount you’d need to reach +60 AR off trinkets is over 1500. Additionally, considering that you only gain 1 to 3 per fractal chest (4-12 a run), you’re looking at at around 400 in worst case scenario, and as few as 150 or so in the best case. Probably around 300 or so runs on average.

So yea, it is possible to not need ascended armor to run fractals, but it’s also a grind worse than crafting the armor in the first place.

nolop.8095:

If ANet comes through with their promises of “truly chalenging PvE content” I can’t help but wonder what this content will be balanced around.

‘Truly challenging’ doesn’t have to mean ‘WoW gear check’. I don’t know what they have planned, but I hope the challenging part is more focused on teamwork, timing and positioning, etc. than gear checks.

Just a point of argument

Ascended weapons/armor/trinkets came out to 8.6% damage when using food and utility buffs over exotic weapons/armor with ascended trinkets and the same food/utility buffs (Truffle Steak+Superior Sharpening Stone, less powerful buffs resulted in a larger difference). from my calculations. The gap closes when you’re have reliable sources of might/fury/ferocity/raw crit chance, but even with a theoretically infinite value wont ever reach 4.98.6% even with a hypothetical near infinite increase to power/precision/ferocity due to the base damage on the weapon being a multiplier on the power. The build contained 300 power, 200 precision and 200 ferocity from traits Builds like 300/300/300 (Like variations on scepter/focus elementalist) in those have less of an increase, while those that run less, which is most builds due to amazing damage multiplying traits tending to be in other lines, will have a greater increase from ascended gear.

Certain classes are effected more than others. Might stackers like Scepter/Focus elementalist see a negligible increase in damage from ascended armor (At least in PvE where nothing removes your boons) (survivability is harder to calculate as it’s not a strict multiplication), and if you have one in your group, you’ll see similar results.

If you’re playing pugs or solo WvW roaming, you’ll see a noticeable difference in damage from ascended armor, and most likely a reasonable increase in survivability.

Either way, you should definitely make ascended weapons, for the base damage if nothing else. +5% damage is pretty much a free trait, and the two together without access to might/fury stacking is almost the difference between maintaining 90% health or not with scholar runes.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Astralporing.1957:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Who needs ascended stats! lets make them the same as exotics!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold for exotics? Don’t I deserve to get exotic stats with the same amount of effort as rare stats?

Who needs exotics stats! lets make them the same as rare!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold for rares? Don’t I deserve to get rare stats with the same amount of effort as masterwork stats?

Who needs rare stats! lets make them the same as masterwork!

…but wait… why do I need to grind silver for masterwork? Don’t I deserve to get masterwork stats with the same amount of effort as blue stats?

Who needs masterwork stats! lets make them the same as blues!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold to level crafting? Don’t I deserve to have 500 crafting in every profession? I thought this game was about fun not grinding?

Who needs to level crafting! level 500 for everyone!

but wait… why do I need to spend time and gold to level my character? Don’t I deserve to be level 80 immediately? Why do I have to grind to level 80?

Who needs levels! instant 80 for everyone!

And that’s pretty much how it worked in GW1. And, funny thing, people liked it that way.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

yeah come to think of it your idea isn’t very fun… I think i’ll stick with how the game was meant to be.

Originally it was meant to be closer to the GW1 progression idea. So yeah, i also would rather stick to how it was meant to be before ascended got released.

“people” being the 10-20k active players in GW1.

This game is trying to appease 1-2 million active players.

10-20k players NOW, after a decade and it’s sequel has released. But at its prime?

In April 2009, NCSoft announced that 6 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold

I’d say it did quite a bit better for itself than the above post would imply.

Due to an accident, I only have 9 fingers on my hands.

Anet please close the finger gap, and make every player cut off 1 finger.

Ty.

serenke.4806:

just because i would never make a legendary greatsword – so from my point of view it is unnecessary, it does not mean there is no reason for it to exist.

I agree. Legendary weapons shouldn’t be higher than ascended, and if the gap is closed by reducing ascended stats, legendary stats should continue to match it.

Tolmos.8395:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Astralporing.1957:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Who needs ascended stats! lets make them the same as exotics!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold for exotics? Don’t I deserve to get exotic stats with the same amount of effort as rare stats?

Who needs exotics stats! lets make them the same as rare!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold for rares? Don’t I deserve to get rare stats with the same amount of effort as masterwork stats?

Who needs rare stats! lets make them the same as masterwork!

…but wait… why do I need to grind silver for masterwork? Don’t I deserve to get masterwork stats with the same amount of effort as blue stats?

Who needs masterwork stats! lets make them the same as blues!

…but wait… why do I need to grind gold to level crafting? Don’t I deserve to have 500 crafting in every profession? I thought this game was about fun not grinding?

Who needs to level crafting! level 500 for everyone!

but wait… why do I need to spend time and gold to level my character? Don’t I deserve to be level 80 immediately? Why do I have to grind to level 80?

Who needs levels! instant 80 for everyone!

And that’s pretty much how it worked in GW1. And, funny thing, people liked it that way.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

yeah come to think of it your idea isn’t very fun… I think i’ll stick with how the game was meant to be.

Originally it was meant to be closer to the GW1 progression idea. So yeah, i also would rather stick to how it was meant to be before ascended got released.

“people” being the 10-20k active players in GW1.

This game is trying to appease 1-2 million active players.

10-20k players NOW, after a decade and it’s sequel has released. But at its prime?

In April 2009, NCSoft announced that 6 million units of games in the Guild Wars series had been sold

I’d say it did quite a bit better for itself than the above post would imply.

Let’s be fair here, GW1 didn’t have a very good player retention. Unless you were into title-hunting you had absolutely zero PvE goals or perhaps some skins and look… GW2 has the same.

Eponet.4829:

serenke.4806:

just because i would never make a legendary greatsword – so from my point of view it is unnecessary, it does not mean there is no reason for it to exist.

I agree. Legendary weapons shouldn’t be higher than ascended, and if the gap is closed by reducing ascended stats, legendary stats should continue to match it.

Nobody is crafting a legendary to get stats though, so that point flew right above your head.

serenke.4806:

Eponet.4829:

serenke.4806:

just because i would never make a legendary greatsword – so from my point of view it is unnecessary, it does not mean there is no reason for it to exist.

I agree. Legendary weapons shouldn’t be higher than ascended, and if the gap is closed by reducing ascended stats, legendary stats should continue to match it.

Nobody is crafting a legendary to get stats though, so that point flew right above your head.

Then what is it about them that gives an advantage over others? The only things about them that have any mechanical effect are:

-Ascended Stats
-Stat Changing

If you’re saying that you want stat changing on ascended items to separate it from exotics, then I personally would have no issue with it.

It’s pretty straightforward what he/she is saying.

You craft ascended for stats.

You craft legenderies for looks/prestige.

But I’ll add a 3rd statement:

You craft either cause there is nothing else to do.

Eponet.4829:

serenke.4806:

Nobody is crafting a legendary to get stats though, so that point flew right above your head.

Then what is it about them that gives an advantage over others?

Nothing. Legendaries are being crafted for bling, not for stats. Which is at it should be.

Conski Deshan.2057:

nolop.8095:

HoT is the perfect opportunity to up the stats of exotics to be on par with ascended items.
Having no equipment spiral has always been one of the best things about GW.

So why not take this chance to even out the playing field and adjust the stats to one base level.

Now you might think the stat difference is rather small and has no significant impact. But if you compar it to other games like WoW, wich is pretty much the poster child for an endless gear treadmill, you can see the stat increase is about the same as in WoW, percentage wise.

If ANet comes through with their promises of “truly chalenging PvE content” I can’t help but wonder what this content will be balanced around.

If it’s balanced for exotics the hardcore crowd will just plow through the contend and be disappointed because it’s no challenge.
On the other hand if it’s balanced around ascended gear we will have a hard split in the community, at least in dungeons ect.

I’d be very interested to know how people who have all the ascended stuff would feel about a change like this.

First off NO.

Secondly , your suggestion is to literally take away the reason people worked to get the ascended , with no compensation making what could potentially be several hundred hours of their game-play time worthless? Why would anyone who values their time accept that.

Third: It has been in the game years now, they’ve said they won’t introduce any more gear tiers, it would be best to just accept that ascended is here to stay and get over it.
It’s not unfair as you can just make your own set as can every player on a WvW map so regardless of the stats being negligible or not it’s a moot point.

Finally: I would expect HOT hard content to be designed for at least ascended quality, it’s meant to be super hard content (which people seem to keep forgetting means the vast majority are expected to fail/ be unable to complete it). Anyone at that stage in the game has likely had plenty of opportunity to make it and if they haven’t it’s an opportunity cost they voluntarily took.

1. No to your no. Ascended should not have better stats. In a game made for “having fun” rather than “preparing to have fun”, low-to-no grind for working gear and accessible pvp, there shouldn’t be any need for this sort of grind ascended currently has.

1. Except for fractals. Ascended should be the exotic+ gear for fractals. Just like how masteries are meant for certain regions of the game, instead of invalidating previous content and achievements. In the same vein, ascended should not, in any way, be different from a similar exotic in WvW (and maybe open world.), but reward those who play fractals a lot. (I’m on the fence about dungeons)

That way, you get the best of both worlds. Reward for your grind, and a game based more on skill than time played.

Boro.7359:

Conski Deshan.2057:

nolop.8095:

HoT is the perfect opportunity to up the stats of exotics to be on par with ascended items.
Having no equipment spiral has always been one of the best things about GW.

So why not take this chance to even out the playing field and adjust the stats to one base level.

Now you might think the stat difference is rather small and has no significant impact. But if you compar it to other games like WoW, wich is pretty much the poster child for an endless gear treadmill, you can see the stat increase is about the same as in WoW, percentage wise.

If ANet comes through with their promises of “truly chalenging PvE content” I can’t help but wonder what this content will be balanced around.

If it’s balanced for exotics the hardcore crowd will just plow through the contend and be disappointed because it’s no challenge.
On the other hand if it’s balanced around ascended gear we will have a hard split in the community, at least in dungeons ect.

I’d be very interested to know how people who have all the ascended stuff would feel about a change like this.

First off NO.

Secondly , your suggestion is to literally take away the reason people worked to get the ascended , with no compensation making what could potentially be several hundred hours of their game-play time worthless? Why would anyone who values their time accept that.

Third: It has been in the game years now, they’ve said they won’t introduce any more gear tiers, it would be best to just accept that ascended is here to stay and get over it.
It’s not unfair as you can just make your own set as can every player on a WvW map so regardless of the stats being negligible or not it’s a moot point.

Finally: I would expect HOT hard content to be designed for at least ascended quality, it’s meant to be super hard content (which people seem to keep forgetting means the vast majority are expected to fail/ be unable to complete it). Anyone at that stage in the game has likely had plenty of opportunity to make it and if they haven’t it’s an opportunity cost they voluntarily took.

1. No to your no. Ascended should not have better stats. In a game made for “having fun” rather than “preparing to have fun”, low-to-no grind for working gear and accessible pvp, there shouldn’t be any need for this sort of grind ascended currently has.

1. Except for fractals. Ascended should be the exotic+ gear for fractals. Just like how masteries are meant for certain regions of the game, instead of invalidating previous content and achievements. In the same vein, ascended should not, in any way, be different from a similar exotic in WvW (and maybe open world.), but reward those who play fractals a lot. (I’m on the fence about dungeons)

That way, you get the best of both worlds. Reward for your grind, and a game based more on skill than time played.

You want to limit ascended gear to just fractals? I’m not interested in fractals at all.

All I’ve seen in this thread is the people who are for changes like this are not willing to put in the work for ascended gear. I took the time to invest in it there is no reason why you can’t do the same.

Boro.7359:

Conski Deshan.2057:

nolop.8095:

HoT is the perfect opportunity to up the stats of exotics to be on par with ascended items.
Having no equipment spiral has always been one of the best things about GW.

So why not take this chance to even out the playing field and adjust the stats to one base level.

Now you might think the stat difference is rather small and has no significant impact. But if you compar it to other games like WoW, wich is pretty much the poster child for an endless gear treadmill, you can see the stat increase is about the same as in WoW, percentage wise.

If ANet comes through with their promises of “truly chalenging PvE content” I can’t help but wonder what this content will be balanced around.

If it’s balanced for exotics the hardcore crowd will just plow through the contend and be disappointed because it’s no challenge.
On the other hand if it’s balanced around ascended gear we will have a hard split in the community, at least in dungeons ect.

I’d be very interested to know how people who have all the ascended stuff would feel about a change like this.

First off NO.

Secondly , your suggestion is to literally take away the reason people worked to get the ascended , with no compensation making what could potentially be several hundred hours of their game-play time worthless? Why would anyone who values their time accept that.

Third: It has been in the game years now, they’ve said they won’t introduce any more gear tiers, it would be best to just accept that ascended is here to stay and get over it.
It’s not unfair as you can just make your own set as can every player on a WvW map so regardless of the stats being negligible or not it’s a moot point.

Finally: I would expect HOT hard content to be designed for at least ascended quality, it’s meant to be super hard content (which people seem to keep forgetting means the vast majority are expected to fail/ be unable to complete it). Anyone at that stage in the game has likely had plenty of opportunity to make it and if they haven’t it’s an opportunity cost they voluntarily took.

1. No to your no. Ascended should not have better stats. In a game made for “having fun” rather than “preparing to have fun”, low-to-no grind for working gear and accessible pvp, there shouldn’t be any need for this sort of grind ascended currently has.

1. Except for fractals. Ascended should be the exotic+ gear for fractals. Just like how masteries are meant for certain regions of the game, instead of invalidating previous content and achievements. In the same vein, ascended should not, in any way, be different from a similar exotic in WvW (and maybe open world.), but reward those who play fractals a lot. (I’m on the fence about dungeons)

That way, you get the best of both worlds. Reward for your grind, and a game based more on skill than time played.

I’m guessing you are new to the game. ANet said way back when that Ascended equipment was meant to be in game at launch, but they ran out of time. They made it as costly as they did as it is meant to be bis. Do you need it? No. Not unless you are doing the top end fractals. But let me tell you something, originally legendary weapons have an advantage over people with exotic weapons as they use to have slightly better base damage. When ascended weapons come out they where brought into line with them.

This simply as I see it, people who, don’t have/don’t want to spent the gold/time to get it. I don’t see what gives anyone the right to invalidate peoples work to get the gear, what’s ANet to do? Refund everyone the mats/gold/laurels/karma they spent on getting the gear? That will be a coding nightmare. So it will not happen.

If this did happen ANet would lose players too. Losing players means losing income. That’s not something ANet are willing to chance, no company would.

New? I started in 2012 october, but never mind that, or that I had other problems (weak-ish computer, university, one year without stable internet, and a ton of assignments) that prevented me from doing the grind everything out every (other/third/however you felt like) day all of you did, plus, the supposed easy tells often lag me 0.5-1 second (which is clientside because I get the hit number before the enemy starts up the animation)

Boro.7359:

1. No to your no. Ascended should not have better stats. In a game made for “having fun” rather than “preparing to have fun”, low-to-no grind for working gear and accessible pvp, there shouldn’t be any need for this sort of grind ascended currently has.

1. Except for fractals. Ascended should be the exotic+ gear for fractals. Just like how masteries are meant for certain regions of the game, instead of invalidating previous content and achievements. In the same vein, ascended should not, in any way, be different from a similar exotic in WvW (and maybe open world.), but reward those who play fractals a lot. (I’m on the fence about dungeons)

That way, you get the best of both worlds. Reward for your grind, and a game based more on skill than time played.

But that’s the thing you’re not preparing to have fun you can have it right off the bat, your argument would have merit if it was like FFXIV where you physically cannot enter a piece of content until you get to a certain gear level, but that is not the case here. You can complete/start every piece of content currently in the game in lvl 80 exotics/rares/masterworks/whites

The only difference is between viable and optimal , you are viable for every piece of content (keeping their promise), you are not optimal (in every game with and without gear tiers being optimal is usually a long term goal).

The difference between viable and optimal is much more pronounced in wvw. As said before, the stats from ascended can make the difference in 1v1 scenarios, the number of people with ascended can make the difference between zergs, worlds, etc, so at the very least, this difference has to go from WvW.

I don’t really mind it in PvE actually. (although, limiting it (the bonuses over exotic) to fractals/fractals+dungeons could open up possibilities for introducing other types of content-specific gear, but that has to be evaluated on it’s own, and is much less of an issue, as it is said above

Boro.7359:

New? I started in 2012 october, but never mind that, or that I had other problems (weak-ish computer, university, one year without stable internet, and a ton of assignments) that prevented me from doing the grind everything out every (other/third/however you felt like) day all of you did, plus, the supposed easy tells often lag me 0.5-1 second (which is clientside because I get the hit number before the enemy starts up the animation)

Not quite, I didn’t have Ascended armor till Christmas 2013. And only finished my Ascended shield about 4-5 months ago. So I have full ascended gear and weapons now, great sword, sword and shield. I got the recipe for Ascended axe about 2 months ago, still not started them, so its hardly a must have. Seeing as the exotic axes I’m using work just fine, but id rather have something functional to work towards. I have no interest in dumping the same amount of gold it would take to make something like the crossing or volcanus. Ascended gear is optional. The only time it might have any influence over the out come of anything, might be a 1v1 in WvW. And that’s if both players have the “best” builds for there class.

I don’t understand how not having Ascended gear affects you in any way. The only reason I can see for people wanting this change are the people who do not want to do crafting. At the end of the day, that’s all that’s holding people back.

As for a weak PC, mine untill a month ago was 8 years old and falling apart. But we all have RL problems, mines having a disabled child, sometimes there are more important things in life than a game.

Eh, I’d rather it not influence WvW, and I’m all for functional stuff to play towards as well. (Mastery tracks especially)

And.. sorry for my outburst, and best wishes to you IRL.

Boro.7359:

Eh, I’d rather it not influence WvW, and I’m all for functional stuff to play towards as well.

That’s what it boils down to for me, I really would have preferred a different gear goal for WvW where the track to create or obtain pieces or materials was applicable to how I played the game, which would have been a great chance to add something fun to the part of the game we like to play.

Godmoney.2048:

As someone who has full ascended on at least 1 character it is insignificant. I just finally finished full ascended on my power/crit mesmer. I can’t even tell a difference. When I played Rift or WOW and got a upgrade it was noticeable for sure. Even a single socketed gem in Rift could make my crits hit significantly harder. Not so much in GW2.

Full ascended Jewelry with exotic armor and weapons puts you on par with anyone in full ascended in my opinion. Ascended jewelry is easy enough to get. Ascended armor could use a crafting buff. Way too expensive imo.

Too much silk needed I think… Most of the rest is bearable.