Guild Wars 2

Please go ahead and keep adding more item and character progression. Its a very good way to keep pve interesting for a long time. New skins are good, but what if you dont like the new skins or like the one you have more? After all visuals are personal preference.

They won’t lol, people are wasting there breath, let them though, they think the game will “die” without them.

It’s rather the opposite.

I think people expect this to work out well for ANet, as they’ll pick up a few thousand WoW players. If they lost 50,000 current players and get 10,000 WoW players, it’s still a net win for them because all of the current players have already paid.

Satans Chosen.1024:

The title of this thread is faulty unless you have data to back up your claim of “vocal minority.”

I agree. What an odd claim by the original poster. Regardless of how one personally feels about the announced changes, the idea of how gear and progression would work was sold to the masses very early on. ArenaNet was not shy about their philosophy and their disdain for gear chases.

My point is, everyone who purchased this game knew what they were getting in this area ahead of time. To purchase a product hoping one day the developers would do a 180 on their philosophy is silly. Thus, it stands to reason that everyone who gravitated towards Guild Wars 2 did so because they agreed with the original philosophy.

To now suggest all the players are now a “vocal minority” is just ridiculous. That would be like suggesting all the players opposed to flying mounts are a minority. Or that all the players opposed to 40 man dungeon raids are a minority. Or that players who are in favor of the absence of quest-hub theme-park style adventuring are a minority. These are all principles the game was built upon, and if you (for some insane reason) purchased GW2 despite apparently hating all the design choices the developers originally made, then you have nobody to blame for your disappointments but yourself. Don’t pretend you’re standing on the side of the majority for a second.

The irony is that anyone claiming there is a “vocal minority” in a forum like this IS part of a that vocal minority pretending to represent the “silent majority.”

Yep keep it coming. Real MMO players play MMO’s for character progression and for the social aspect, that doesn’t mean your hardcore that means your playing the genre for what it is. Dont hold back because some of these people want a single player game MMO’s dont handicap players, it keeps going and going. As long as you implement progression in a fun way of doing things there should never be a problem.

greyblue.4962:

It’s rather the opposite.

I think people expect this to work out well for ANet, as they’ll pick up a few thousand WoW players. If they lost 50,000 current players and get 10,000 WoW players, it’s still a net win for them because all of the current players have already paid.

You’re making the assumption (which I think is flawed) that none of those 50,000 players lost in your example ever planned on spending money on the cash shop or that none of them would have paid for expansion packs as well.

To believe the opposite is to really expect them to ultimately apply that sort of bait and switch tactic to every single controversial design choice they made when designing the game. Because, why wouldn’t they if all they cared about was units sold of the original product.

OP is vocal minority.

Stick to what you said for years in blog posts, AMAs, manifesto videos, interviews, at the gamescoms.

Gear grind is lazy bad game design and it ruins fun.

camoflaugz.5031:

Yep keep it coming. Real MMO players play MMO’s for character progression and for the social aspect, that doesn’t mean your hardcore that means your playing the genre for what it is. Dont hold back because some of these people want a single player game MMO’s dont handicap players, it keeps going and going. As long as you implement progression in a fun way of doing things there should never be a problem.

I believe the thinking here is that if you want the type of MMO you’re describing, there are already a host of MMOs available like that for you to select from. If you wanted something different, you could play GW2. There is no need to turn GW2 into those games.

For GW2 to make itself like every other MMO would be suicidal. GW2 can not compete directly with WoW if it chooses to make itself like WoW.. WoW has over a dozen years of development time behind it now. To foolishly go that route, GW2 would just become “a WoW-like MMO, but with less features.” It can, however, successfully offer itself as an alternative to WoW by remaining different than the standard MMO.

camoflaugz.5031:

Yep keep it coming. Real MMO players play MMO’s for character progression and for the social aspect, that doesn’t mean your hardcore that means your playing the genre for what it is. Dont hold back because some of these people want a single player game MMO’s dont handicap players, it keeps going and going. As long as you implement progression in a fun way of doing things there should never be a problem.

Yes, and no true Scottsman dislikes haggis.

Nobody has an issue with the tiers of gear. They have a problem with ANet changing the rules mid-stream, and to a lesser extent the gating of content.

No amount of free additional content is going to get people up in arms (at least not the sane ones). Creating a system contrary to the one which enticed many to play the game in the first place will however.

They’ve already lost a lot from not having enough to do. How many posts have been on these forums of people complaining about lack of players? I know a lot of my friends/guildies quit because they already accomplished everything to do. Most people don’t care if there weapon has a pretty unicorn on it or not. Most people I know want better/cooler items to work for.

Ryan.6951:

OP is vocal minority.

Stick to what you said for years in blog posts, AMAs, manifesto videos, interviews, at the gamescoms.

Gear grind is lazy bad game design and it ruins fun.

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

“The vocal minority” – seems extraordinarily like an unsubstantitated “fact” pulled out of the OPs rear-end.

I honestly don’t even get the point of adding a new tier, especially this early. I mean, sure you get higher stats with this new gear and it may seem like your character is stronger but the future content is bound to be designed with these higher stats in mind. Meaning that you won’t actually be stronger.

It’s basically adding gear progression for the sake of having gear progression.

Edge.4180:

camoflaugz.5031:

Yep keep it coming. Real MMO players play MMO’s for character progression and for the social aspect, that doesn’t mean your hardcore that means your playing the genre for what it is. Dont hold back because some of these people want a single player game MMO’s dont handicap players, it keeps going and going. As long as you implement progression in a fun way of doing things there should never be a problem.

I believe the thinking here is that if you want the type of MMO you’re describing, there are already a host of MMOs available like that for you to select from. If you wanted something different, you could play GW2. There is no need to turn GW2 into those games.

For GW2 to make itself like every other MMO would be suicidal. GW2 can not compete directly with WoW if it chooses to make itself like WoW.. WoW has over a dozen years of development time behind it now. To foolishly go that route, GW2 would just become “a WoW-like MMO, but with less features.” It can, however, successfully offer itself as an alternative to WoW by remaining different than the standard MMO.

Not trying to make it different in anyway.. This is an MMO, its part of the genre and its a basic function that MMO’s do. Im not even thinking of wow or any other game.. Im thinking MMO thats it.. It already has its unique functions such as no set roles. That alone already sets it apart from others but trying to eliminate basic MMO functions is fail.

camoflaugz.5031:

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

Gear is always a problem, in anything except PvE, it would be a problem in WvW.

As for repetition, yes killing monsters is repetitve, as is farming a dungeon for the zillionth time.

Those obsessed with gear (to the poitn they quit a game when they’ve geeared up and “have nothing left to do”) always amuse me, they are basically stating they play a game, where the actual gameplay bores them so much that they would not in fact play it were it not for the equivalent of virtual stamp collecting.

OP the problem is they did listen to the vocal minority. You know the ones that after 2.5 months were unhappy and crying for gear progression. The problem is the quiet majority stayed quiet well now Anet has pissed us off.

If 75% of 10,000 forum posters cry foul at item progression I would say that would be statistically significant.

We have no way of proving which side is the majority, this thread is moot.

It’s getting hard to tell legit posts from trolling at this point.

camoflaugz.5031:

Ryan.6951:

OP is vocal minority.

Stick to what you said for years in blog posts, AMAs, manifesto videos, interviews, at the gamescoms.

Gear grind is lazy bad game design and it ruins fun.

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

I would say adding steps of vertical progression this early in the game is a little discerning. You’re trying to sell that the vertical progression is good for a game and I’m skeptical of that.

I raided all the way to nax 40 as MT as well as getting field marshal in PvP (would have had to quit my job for grand marshal) only to have my efforts negated by revisions made to that game come the first expansion. Then they did it to me again with the second expansion. I never even went back to try the third expansion because it all felt like a waste of my gaming time by then.

I’m old school so you might not remember this but Funcom almost got it right with Anarchy Online during their shadowlands expansion that you gained shadow levels and your gearset was actually expanded rather than revised. It was still vertical progression as your character did get better, but it didn’t nullify most of the gear you had already aquired.

greg.3792:

If 75% of 10,000 forum posters cry foul at item progression I would say that would be statistically significant.

Hrm. There aren’t 10,000 forum posters though. Just about less than 7500 though given that some are positives and a lot are probably reposts. Plus, making 7500 people angry doesn’t not amount to gaining 10,000 new players. Great business move. Good publicitiy move? I can’t speak for anyone, but for me, idc.

Sylosi.6503:

camoflaugz.5031:

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

Gear is always a problem, in anything except PvE, it would be a problem in WvW.

As for repetition, yes killing monsters is repetitve, as is farming a dungeon for the zillionth time.

So whats fun for you? This is what MMO’s do…It sounds like you want progression to be taken out of the game which no longer is an mmo but more like a single player rpg.. There are plenty of games out there. I could understand guildwars 1 being like that but were nearly in 2013 now.

So who makes up the vocal majority or the silent minority? Or are minorities always vocal and majorities always silent.

Malediktus.9250:

but what if you dont like the new skins or like the one you have more?

Then you use the cash shop to buy transmutation stones, or go and grind. Because everyone loves grind. Colin said so.

OP is vocal minority. 85% of statistics are made up. This thread is bull.

Well the 147 pages in that one thread mostly against progression might be a slight hint who is the majority don´t you think?

camoflaugz.5031:

Infact most MMO players love gear.

Except of course for the huge number of people who bought this game because we would never have to chase gear, because there is no other MMO that offers that.

There isn’t.

Unless I go back to DAOC, which I can’t — game’s too old, and I can’t get myself through setting up my UI for a solid hour or two before I play.

I like how you think your experience with, what, one MMO? Maybe one MMO and several of its clones? I like how you think that’s how ALL MMOS MUST WORK! and that there is no other option.

But hey enjoy your gear treadmill. Must be nice, if that’s all you want and all you think is possible from the genre.

Go play Progress Quest.

Reaver.9256:

They’ve already lost a lot from not having enough to do. How many posts have been on these forums of people complaining about lack of players? I know a lot of my friends/guildies quit because they already accomplished everything to do. Most people don’t care if there weapon has a pretty unicorn on it or not. Most people I know want better/cooler items to work for.

You’re downplaying aesthetics while at the same time suggesting escalating stat changes is somehow “cooler”. Unfortunately, this is a game where:

1) stats scale down depending on your location making an increase in stats fairly meaningless for most of the world (and the entire world map is largely considered to be all end-game content under this design).

2) as players are given equipment with increased stats they are ultimately countered by NPC opponents with increased stats, making the entire thing a pointless wash.

Take a level 10 character, for example, and pit him against a level 10 monster. Now take that same character, give him equipment that has three times the stats, but raise the stats of the monster by a factor of three to maintain the balance. There is going to be no difference in the feel of that fight beyond seeing bigger numbers everywhere. What actually makes higher level content more exciting is the introduction of new abilities, mechanics and tactics on both the player, the environment, and the NPC opponents. You don’t have to throw in stat changes on top of that to accomplish the goal.

The only thing character stats are really good for in GW2 is to slowly unfold the world around the player. A level 10 player can not survive a level 80 zone until his stats have improved. That gives them a location and a goal to strive for over time. It becomes the point of leveling up – to be able to survive in more areas of the world. But once you reach max level, increasing stats just for the sake of increasing stats does little beyond making your current gear obsolete (which I doubt anyone is fond of). It’s also mechanic that can also be used to gate content by forcing a player to get tier 1 equipment in order to raid a tier 2 dungeon, to then obtain tier 2 equipment to raid a tier 3 dungeon, and so on.. but that’s the treadmill this game was supposed to be avoiding like the plague, and even now the developers are insisting they’re opposed to this design.

You know, it’s like players want to believe that there’s always a dungeon out there that is unconquerable until they have invested both time and effort into coming up with a way to survive in it and ultimately conquer it. WoW has taught us that the solution to this dilemma must always come in the form of gear with better stats. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We shouldn’t have to make our current gear obsolete every time we do that. There are plenty of other ways to gate content and make players feel like they are progressing through challenge after challenge. WoW rarely bothers trying this because they already have a mechanic: the illusion of gear “progression”. GW2 could continue its brave trend of being different and use a different way if they really believed in their original philosophy.

Vlaxitov.5693:

camoflaugz.5031:

Ryan.6951:

OP is vocal minority.

Stick to what you said for years in blog posts, AMAs, manifesto videos, interviews, at the gamescoms.

Gear grind is lazy bad game design and it ruins fun.

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

I would say adding steps of vertical progression this early in the game is a little discerning. You’re trying to sell that the vertical progression is good for a game and I’m skeptical of that.

I raided all the way to nax 40 as MT as well as getting field marshal in PvP (would have had to quit my job for grand marshal) only to have my efforts negated by revisions made to that game come the first expansion. Then they did it to me again with the second expansion. I never even went back to try the third expansion because it all felt like a waste of my gaming time by then.

I’m old so you might not remember this but Funcom almost got it right with Anarchy Online during their shadowlands expansion that you gained shadow levels and your gearset was actually expanded rather than revised. It was still vertical progression as your character did get better, but it didn’t nullify most of the gear you had already aquired.

Im pretty oldschool myself. I did play anarchy online:). Im just not concerned at all, I mean its just getting a few pieces of gear. I think they already said that its not going to be like that every 3 months or whatever it may be so I don’t see this as a problem. I’m sure they knew that this would cause an uproar but I believe Anet is smart. Maybe the new dungeon is really that good..

warmonkey.8013:

camoflaugz.5031:

Infact most MMO players love gear.

Except of course for the huge number of people who bought this game because we would never have to chase gear, because there is no other MMO that offers that.

There isn’t.

Unless I go back to DAOC, which I can’t — game’s too old, and I can’t get myself through setting up my UI for a solid hour or two before I play.

I like how you think your experience with, what, one MMO? Maybe one MMO and several of its clones? I like how you think that’s how ALL MMOS MUST WORK! and that there is no other option.

But hey enjoy your gear treadmill. Must be nice, if that’s all you want and all you think is possible from the genre.

Go play Progress Quest.

One MMO? ive been around for awhile and probably much older than you too.

I think people are making mountains out of molehills. A new tier of loot does not equate to OMG NEW LOOT EVERY 3 MONTHS THAT WE HAVE TO GET TO STAY COMPETITIVE.

It will be a normal, accepted part of the game hours after it becomes available.

camoflaugz.5031:

Vlaxitov.5693:

camoflaugz.5031:

Ryan.6951:

OP is vocal minority.

Stick to what you said for years in blog posts, AMAs, manifesto videos, interviews, at the gamescoms.

Gear grind is lazy bad game design and it ruins fun.

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

I would say adding steps of vertical progression this early in the game is a little discerning. You’re trying to sell that the vertical progression is good for a game and I’m skeptical of that.

I raided all the way to nax 40 as MT as well as getting field marshal in PvP (would have had to quit my job for grand marshal) only to have my efforts negated by revisions made to that game come the first expansion. Then they did it to me again with the second expansion. I never even went back to try the third expansion because it all felt like a waste of my gaming time by then.

I’m old so you might not remember this but Funcom almost got it right with Anarchy Online during their shadowlands expansion that you gained shadow levels and your gearset was actually expanded rather than revised. It was still vertical progression as your character did get better, but it didn’t nullify most of the gear you had already aquired.

Im pretty oldschool myself. I did play anarchy online:). Im just not concerned at all, I mean its just getting a few pieces of gear. I think they already said that its not going to be like that every 3 months or whatever it may be so I don’t see this as a problem. I’m sure they knew that this would cause an uproar but I believe Anet is smart. Maybe the new dungeon is really that good..

Right, then you know we would still do things in AO like hit up that lower level temple for the chips to put in your NCU belt. You would still do that biodome raid for the faction class armor because despite expanions, that armor was still BIS. I am concerned because I’ve yet to see a game handle their gear progression as well as AO which is sad.

Hunterdan.4921:

I think people are making mountains out of molehills. A new tier of loot does not equate to OMG NEW LOOT EVERY 3 MONTHS THAT WE HAVE TO GET TO STAY COMPETITIVE.

It will be a normal, accepted part of the game hours after it becomes available.

It likely already is, because everyone who does not subscribe to that design philosophy has or will have quit.

And, actually.. yeah, it does mean that. They’re giving us 3 Ascended now. Later we will get more Ascended gear. What happens when every slot is Ascended? Do you HONESTLY think they’ll stop? It took 3 months after release to go back on a design promise they’ve made for YEARS — do you think that a year from now when everyone is in full Ascended and the Pandas start crying for more progression, that Anet will say “No not this time LOL!”

No, they’ll release more gear. They caved once and have shown that they will cave to the tears of the Pandas, they have shown they don’t give two damns about their gw1 player base or the gw2 player base that is here BECAUSE we don’t have to chase gear endlessly.

they are not caving into vocal minority.
When Arena net develop contents you want, it’s all “they listen”.
But when they try something you don’t like, it’s that they cave in.
Arena net is own by NCsoft, nobody not to anybody in this forum. They will listen to their customers, but they will not cave in.

They already did cave in to the vocal minority by introducing this form of progression.

We’re just asking for them to rethink the decision. This isn’t WoW and it really shouldn’t be.

StormcrowX.9236:

OP is vocal minority. 85% of statistics are made up. This thread is bull.

Something doesn’t seem right about your number either, :P.

Fungalfoot.7213:

They already did cave in to the vocal minority by introducing this form of progression.

We’re just asking for them to rethink the decision. This isn’t WoW and it really shouldn’t be.

Hm, this isn’t Gw1 either. Neutral party here though.

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Hm, this isn’t Gw1 either. Neutral party here though.

You’re right and that’s a problem. While I think Guild Wars 2 does a lot of things better than Guild Wars progression certainly isn’t one of them. Besides, their vision in regards to gear has been pretty clear cut since day one.

“Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.”
- Mike Obrien

“Fun impacts loot collection. The rarest items in the game are not more powerful than other items, so you don’t need them to be the best. The rarest items have unique looks to help your character feel that sense of accomplishment, but it’s not required to play the game. We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.”
– Colin Johanson

This move goes completely against everything they said the game would be. It makes sense for consumers to cry foul when a developer lies this blatantly in their sales pitch.

I’m glad the community is willing to rally together and fight for it. Too many MMOs have been doomed because of bad decisions like this passing through while the community just idly sits by letting it happen. Ominously enough the update which ruined Star Wars Galaxies came out at the exact same date as The Lost Shores is scheduled to be released at. If that isn’t a sign of impending disaster I don’t know what is.

I asked in my guild and friend list. Most people are in favor for a sensible (small, like anet is doing with ascended) itemspiral. The rest of the people didnt care. Not a single person said they hate the idea.

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Fungalfoot.7213:

They already did cave in to the vocal minority by introducing this form of progression.

We’re just asking for them to rethink the decision. This isn’t WoW and it really shouldn’t be.

Hm, this isn’t Gw1 either. Neutral party here though.

No it’s not GW1 but it was advertised to follow a similar philosophy when it comes to gear.

This really isn’t about who’s the “vocal minority.” And it’s not about weather or not the new gear is legitimately more powerful or only slightly.

That’s really not the big picture, here.

This is about the basic gameplay standards and promises made by Anet, in the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto, AMAs, and press releases during development.

Arenanet. Don’t after-the-fact change the product that we already paid for.

BBilbo.9641:

This really isn’t about who’s the “vocal minority.” And it’s not about weather or not the new gear is legitimately more powerful or only slightly.

That’s really not the big picture, here.

This is about the basic gameplay standards and promises made by Anet, in the Guild Wars 2 Manifesto, AMAs, and press releases during development.

Arenanet. Don’t after-the-fact change the product that we already paid for.

I think the bigger picture here is the success of the business. Revenue drives these companies, it’s not a not-for-profit effort. Casual players…sad to say do not generate as much revenue has hardcore player/competitive players. Whether you consider there move smart business-wise is up to you, but I can see why they would do this. But only time will tell how it pans out.

Malediktus.9250:

I asked in my guild and friend list. Most people are in favor for a sensible (small, like anet is doing with ascended) itemspiral. The rest of the people didnt care. Not a single person said they hate the idea.

that’s funny. i’ve got a single person that doesn’t care, a single person who loves the idea (he quit already and went back to d3. do not cater to this man, for the love of god).

The rest? I don’t think any of us have logged in since that blog post, and we’re dusting off our LoL accounts. Fortunately, none of the champions or runes I’ve picked up in that game have become eclipsed by a new tier. We’ll just go and spend several times what a new game costs for gems over there rather than here. Shame, really.

krookie.6378:

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Fungalfoot.7213:

They already did cave in to the vocal minority by introducing this form of progression.

We’re just asking for them to rethink the decision. This isn’t WoW and it really shouldn’t be.

Hm, this isn’t Gw1 either. Neutral party here though.

No it’s not GW1 but it was advertised to follow a similar philosophy when it comes to gear.

Right. Totally agree, but it’s still not good to compare it to a game that’s completely irrelevant. This is a new game. Not an expansion. Refer to the promise not another game.

warmonkey.8013:

Hunterdan.4921:

I think people are making mountains out of molehills. A new tier of loot does not equate to OMG NEW LOOT EVERY 3 MONTHS THAT WE HAVE TO GET TO STAY COMPETITIVE.

It will be a normal, accepted part of the game hours after it becomes available.

It likely already is, because everyone who does not subscribe to that design philosophy has or will have quit.

And, actually.. yeah, it does mean that. They’re giving us 3 Ascended now. Later we will get more Ascended gear. What happens when every slot is Ascended? Do you HONESTLY think they’ll stop? It took 3 months after release to go back on a design promise they’ve made for YEARS — do you think that a year from now when everyone is in full Ascended and the Pandas start crying for more progression, that Anet will say “No not this time LOL!”

No, they’ll release more gear. They caved once and have shown that they will cave to the tears of the Pandas, they have shown they don’t give two damns about their gw1 player base or the gw2 player base that is here BECAUSE we don’t have to chase gear endlessly.

I disagree with you, and your wildly negative speculation entirely. I’ll just post a point I already made.

The gap is referring to the difficulty in obtaining. It’s not about breaking manifesto, or adding vertical progression. It’s about balancing rewards. Legendaries are so out of reach that many players (myself included) really did not consider ever obtaining. What are they to do? Make legendaries easier to obtain? Ascended gear gives me something to work towards, but is not necessary for me to enjoy the game. I WvW on a normal basis. I’m not all geared out with exotics, and yet I still manage to kill plenty of players and avoid getting rofl-stomped unless I come up against a lone guardian or thief. And that has less to do with their gear, and more to do with the profession and skill of the player.

A few stat points (Yes yes, I know about the 8% and what not) are not going to make or break one player fighting another. Furthermore, the slow introduction of this tier set to the game will likely insure that the majority of players will have a piece or two before the remaining pieces of the set are released. Since, like everything else in this game, you’re rewarded for doing pretty much anything. So, when you do come across that jerk-face with his ascended gear, you’ll likely have a few pieces yourself.

This would of course be speculation on my part, but that’s all anyone is doing at this point. I feel speculation should be reasonable. To assume on the side of negativity is foolish. I think we’ll just have to wait and see. If ascended gear turns out to be a terribly game breaking and unpopular addition to the game a few weeks down the road, I have no doubt it would be addressed. But to expect them to just toss something out because the internet fervor assumes the sky is falling is ridiculous.

TL;DR – This is not about adding vertical progression. It’s about balancing the gap (Of difficulty in obtaining) between exotic and legendary gear. As far as the stat increase…I have no idea. So you’ll want it more?

Malediktus.9250:

I asked in my guild and friend list. Most people are in favor for a sensible (small, like anet is doing with ascended) itemspiral. The rest of the people didnt care. Not a single person said they hate the idea.

And just about everybody I know is prepared to quit if this change goes live with a few not really caring since they’ve already abandoned the game. Lying is not an acceptable way of doing business and the people in charge need to get that message loud and clear.

While I think this is an awful change to the game itself the underlying principles are far more important. It’s difficult to respect and support ArenaNet as a developer anymore when they sold out their own vision this quickly.

A lot of people don’t agree with me. Must be a vocal minority.

Reaver.9256:

They’ve already lost a lot from not having enough to do. How many posts have been on these forums of people complaining about lack of players? I know a lot of my friends/guildies quit because they already accomplished everything to do. Most people don’t care if there weapon has a pretty unicorn on it or not. Most people I know want better/cooler items to work for.

If after such a small time after its release you already have nothing to do in GW2, then I think seriously think you have a problem with your playing habits.

Either you play too much or you skip/ignore allot of the content (or classes). When you eat at a fast food restaurant and order the huge fries format, don’t complain that you run out of fries half-way through your burger. It’s most probably your own fault; don’t start blaming the restaurant saying that the fries aren’t big enough. Take a good look at how you consume the contents of your plate.

Vlaxitov.5693:

camoflaugz.5031:

Vlaxitov.5693:

camoflaugz.5031:

Ryan.6951:

OP is vocal minority.

Stick to what you said for years in blog posts, AMAs, manifesto videos, interviews, at the gamescoms.

Gear grind is lazy bad game design and it ruins fun.

Gear is never the problem. Infact most MMO players love gear. Its how you get it is what makes or breaks the game. If you have to get new gear but you need to get it in a dungeon thats really fun, then its a win situation. If you have to get new gear killing a million monsters in a repetitive way then its a lose situation..

I would say adding steps of vertical progression this early in the game is a little discerning. You’re trying to sell that the vertical progression is good for a game and I’m skeptical of that.

I raided all the way to nax 40 as MT as well as getting field marshal in PvP (would have had to quit my job for grand marshal) only to have my efforts negated by revisions made to that game come the first expansion. Then they did it to me again with the second expansion. I never even went back to try the third expansion because it all felt like a waste of my gaming time by then.

I’m old so you might not remember this but Funcom almost got it right with Anarchy Online during their shadowlands expansion that you gained shadow levels and your gearset was actually expanded rather than revised. It was still vertical progression as your character did get better, but it didn’t nullify most of the gear you had already aquired.

Im pretty oldschool myself. I did play anarchy online:). Im just not concerned at all, I mean its just getting a few pieces of gear. I think they already said that its not going to be like that every 3 months or whatever it may be so I don’t see this as a problem. I’m sure they knew that this would cause an uproar but I believe Anet is smart. Maybe the new dungeon is really that good..

Right, then you know we would still do things in AO like hit up that lower level temple for the chips to put in your NCU belt. You would still do that biodome raid for the faction class armor because despite expanions, that armor was still BIS. I am concerned because I’ve yet to see a game handle their gear progression as well as AO which is sad.

I don’t really know how this will play out. We will all find out when the patch comes out. I trust Anet though with their decisions and I do believe they care about the players so I think they will have this done in a way that is satisfying for everyone. I just don’t believe in any MMO that is anti gear.
The forums make this game sound like the games slogan should be " Guild Wars 2 the MMO that hates gear and progression we make sure your character stays stuck. Play today! that is a terrible marketing strategy that will sink the game:(