Guild Wars 2

anzenketh.3759:

Exactly my point on asking for the quote I did not expect anyone to find it. I figured everyone got that idea due to chinese whispers(telephone) and that one livestream.

I think what really was said was Ascended should have gone in at the start. Not We had Ascended planned from the start. I have half the mind to look for that interview myself and put it on the wiki for quick reference along with linking Matt Visuals interview on the wiki.

I’ve managed to dig up the Reddit Chris Whiteside AMA where I remembered the information from. Click here.

The actual quote is as follows:

Question from toychristopher:
Was ascended gear actually conceptualized before launch? The blog post that introduced it made it sound like something that you guys came up with just recently.

Response:
Hi Toy,

It was not specifically designed before launch. However the concept of progression rewards with a shallow curve bridging other rewards was. Hope that makes sense.

Chris

So while not specifically Ascended, they are saying there that they had planned vertical progression prior to release.

“However the concept of progression rewards with a shallow curve bridging other rewards was.”

So… what happened:
There existed Exotics and Legendary weapons. Legendary Weapons at the start did not have better stats than exotics, only had cool cosmetic looks and effects. The problem was that getting legendary weapons meant getting the precursor first. The precursor, a standard exotic, could not be crafted, and solely relied on luck (RNG) through the low chance of a drop or being created in the Mystic Forge. The low chance of a precursor drop (never mind the other requirements of the legendary), made the task daunting and boring to accomplish. This made it a large gap between getting an exotic and getting a legendary. Not wanting to move legendary weapons out of their place, they created Ascended weapons, with higher stats (also boosting Legendaries while at it), to bridge the gap between legendaries and exotics. This however caused exotics to become 2nd Best in Slot.

If that’s close to the true story… I can say this: instead of addressing the real issue, RNG/Precursors, they created a new tier of gear to bridge the gap. This new tier bringing it’s own problems such as Time Gating on Best in Slot….

So despite what they’ve said, about not adding anymore tiers of gear…. They still can… Because there might be a gap between Exotics and Ascended or there might be a gap between Ascended and Legendaries….

Watching it again I caught something very interesting on Guild Halls… “We want our players to have that sense of owning part of the world.”

Looks like they don’t want instances housing as much as the players don’t want it.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Watching it again I caught something very interesting on Guild Halls… “We want our players to have that sense of owning part of the world.”

Looks like they don’t want instances housing as much as the players don’t want it.

With a quote that vague, I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you.

Mungrul.9358:

anzenketh.3759:

Exactly my point on asking for the quote I did not expect anyone to find it. I figured everyone got that idea due to chinese whispers(telephone) and that one livestream.

I think what really was said was Ascended should have gone in at the start. Not We had Ascended planned from the start. I have half the mind to look for that interview myself and put it on the wiki for quick reference along with linking Matt Visuals interview on the wiki.

I’ve managed to dig up the Reddit Chris Whiteside AMA where I remembered the information from. Click here.

The actual quote is as follows:

Question from toychristopher:
Was ascended gear actually conceptualized before launch? The blog post that introduced it made it sound like something that you guys came up with just recently.

Response:
Hi Toy,

It was not specifically designed before launch. However the concept of progression rewards with a shallow curve bridging other rewards was. Hope that makes sense.

Chris

So while not specifically Ascended, they are saying there that they had planned vertical progression prior to release.

Thanks that is perfectly in line with what Colin said. So no they do not contradict each other.