Guild Wars 2

You want depressing? Try a little Norma Jean:

“And it seems to me that you caused a grind,
like a fiercely-blowing wind…

Never knowing who you promised,
when the manifesto set in…

And I would have liked to gain cap
before Ascended hit…

Your promise burned out long before…
but my dreaming never did"

I think the dungeon is great as well, I have a blast in it. It’s unfortunate that there will be groups that are… less than impressive, I guess? I’ve had a couple groups fail and fall apart and some that blow through it quite well. Hopefully you and your wife find good groups as well. If you’re on Jade Quarry, look me up and I’ll join you on my guardian. He’s only around level 70, but the lower tiers are feasible at those levels.

slazzy.7309:

You want depressing? Try a little Norma Jean:

“And it seems to me that you caused a grind,
like a fiercely-blowing wind…

Never knowing who you promised,
when the manifesto set in…

And I would have liked to gain cap
before Ascended hit…

Your promise burned out long before…
but my dreaming never did"

This is getting ridiculously old. We get it..many people dont like it, its becoming less feedback and more incessant whining.

Dungeon, good. Grinding for stuff, bad.

Also add me, lvl 80 guardian. Forewarned, I’m a RAGER rawr, but only when I fail.

Ditton.3149:

slazzy.7309:

You want depressing? Try a little Norma Jean:

“And it seems to me that you caused a grind,
like a fiercely-blowing wind…

Never knowing who you promised,
when the manifesto set in…

And I would have liked to gain cap
before Ascended hit…

Your promise burned out long before…
but my dreaming never did"

This is getting ridiculously old. We get it..many people dont like it, its becoming less feedback and more incessant whining.

You can check my previous posts. I have no previous posts on this issue. In fact I defended the events and people getting exotics. I am not whining. I simply feel the game should let me play the way I want. The problem is it is too structured.

Where in my post did I say “this sucks” “all sucks” “or its all garbage” If I did you would have a point.

I just don’t like playing a game where it reduces my wife to tears due to rude players.

Leonard.2867:

@Zoul.1087

Permission to add components of this to my thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Why-Why-Why/first#post825210

Yes full permission.

TonySu.7942:

Dungeon, good. Grinding for stuff, bad.

This x1000

My problem isn’t with doing the dungeon for tokens. Its that it is so structured it has levels and some of the dungeons (like the dredge one) are totally unforgiving. I love some of the dungeons and they are incredibly awesome and fund. However the problem of grouping do to the dungeon design and finding the right group is pretty awful. Some people make it more of a chore than a fun game in dungeons too.

Masterpyro.4310:

Why did I waste 2 months of my life leveling and getting all the gear if I’m on the same playing field as noobs that just opened an account? I love that this game is about skill, but I don’t think you understand the concept of reward in games, the way the industry has conditioned us to expect(Great video another player linked before that explains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c). That’s not how MMOs work. GW2 is a different game but you simply cannot take reward out of this style of game, it is expected. People are leaving the game because ANet tried doing it differently and unfortunately it doesn’t work as-is, people don’t like it, they are conditioned to feel like there’s nothing to do if they can’t get better “stuff”.

Why are you happily accepting your ‘conditioning’? I can’t believe someone would honestly defend that. I’m sure the Communist appartchiks of old would have loved a populace full of such people – easy to psychologically condition, manipulate, and control with Pavlovian conditioning techniques, who accepted that rather fought it, in a Stockholm Syndome-ish kind of way.

Seriously, GW2 was about transcending [that]¹, about breaking away from that, about waking the kitten up and realizing that games should just be fun, and have intrinsic rewards. They gave us a fun, interesting, skill-based not-rng-based [combat system]² deeper than most MMOs, and multiple places to use, learn, and master it, with all kinds of techniques and tactics possible (just read the profession forums), and people are still fixated on gear grind, kitten There is a ton of intrinsic fun to be had in this game, but so many people can’t or won’t see it because of their ‘conditioning’.

Seriously, DO NOT ACCEPT YOUR CONDITIONING. Transcend it, escape it, take control of your own psyche and emotions, do not just be an organic automata easily programmed and ‘farmed’ by other people and companies for cash in return scientifically doled out ‘rewards’ or stimuli.

You’ll thank me later in life.

¹: http://www.cracked.com/article_18461_5-creepy-ways-video-games-are-trying-to-get-you-addicted_p2.html

²: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_zMPcT2jgc

slazzy.7309:

Zoul.1087:

I just don’t like playing a game where it reduces my wife to tears due to rude players.

If that’s really going on, I suggest therapy for her and a vacation for you. Yikes.

Wow thanks for your rude and useless comment. You have no idea the level of frustration this dungeon caused. For me alone. But thanks for insulting my wife.

Stay on topic please (I see your attempt to get this thread closed).

I actually like FoTM a lot, but I have found it impossible to get past level 4. Someone, or more than one person, either disconnects and can’t get back in or people become frustrated and quit in the middle of it.

I’m looking forward to the difficulty reset (when is it? Friday night??)… hoping to start fresh next week with some more experienced and patient players and get past lvl 4!

Hey, Zoul. Maybe we should all team up and try again?

Masterpyro.4310:

Rieselle.5079:

You: Ascended gear gives an unfair advantage in WvW!
Anet: Ok, let’s make WvW use PvP gear.
You: Gold lets you buy upgrades and siege, and gives an unfair advantage!
Anet: Ok, siege is now bought with medals.
You: Server population gives an unfair advantage!
Anet: Ok, let’s limit the allowed players to the lowest pop server.
You: Timezone coverage gives an unfair advantage!
Anet: Ok, WvW is only available during peak times.
You: Grinding jumping puzzles give an unfair advantage!

Anet: Look, just play tPvP for gossakes!

Moral of the story: WvW was never meant to be balanced. External meta-game factors make a far larger impact on winning and losing, compared to anything that one player or character does or has.

This ^
We should give Iran half of our nukes to make the war fair. Fair is not a word you use to describe war. Although Guild Wars is a game, WvW is a “war simulator” of sorts that takes real military tactics/strategy to win. Bigger army with better skilled and better armed soldiers wins the war.

Real war and WvW are not the same thing. All sides in WvW should start on a equal playing field.

And Iran would never nuke Israel. They are only opposed to Zionists and the corrupt criminal banking cartel who support them. “Google Rothschild conspiracy”

You want something constructive?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13gj0p/ascended_gear_and_infusions_how_to_make_them_and/

You don’t have to grind for anything, unless playing more than once a week is a grind, or anything short of being handed the gear in your mailbox is considered a grind.

Forced to play for a tier….oy!

rozcinana.7249:

I actually like FoTM a lot, but I have found it impossible to get past level 4. Someone, or more than one person, either disconnects and can’t get back in or people become frustrated and quit in the middle of it.

I’m looking forward to the difficulty reset (when is it? Friday night??)… hoping to start fresh next week with some more experienced and patient players and get past lvl 4!

Hey, Zoul. Maybe we should all team up and try again?

Same with me and level 2. I have absolutely no luck with FotM groups. I wasted about 4 tries getting to level 2 and can’t seem to get past it. First, it’s virtually impossible to find a group for level 2 and second half of the time people either get disconnected or simply leave. I’m at a point where I don’t even want to do the instance anymore, even though I like it.

I got lucky enough with an essence drop, which I solo farmed in level 1 swamp, so I’m just going to get the quiver and call it a day. Not going to bother with finding groups and dealing with dbags.

slazzy.7309:

You want something constructive?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13gj0p/ascended_gear_and_infusions_how_to_make_them_and/

You don’t have to grind for anything, unless playing more than once a week is a grind, or anything short of being handed the gear in your mailbox is considered a grind.

Forced to play for a tier….oy!

250 tier 6 mats (powerful blood is at about 25s+ right now)
50 ectos
RNG essence

That’s just for 1 back piece. Then you got the infusion mats. You honestly want to tell me that it’s not grinding? How are you suppose to get those mats or gold for them?

You do realize that agony doesn’t even kick in until lvl 10, correct? Ascended gear has nothing to do with this.

Karizee.8076:

You do realize that agony doesn’t even kick in until lvl 10, correct? Ascended gear has nothing to do with this.

Then why is infusion slots implemented into the Ascended gear? Thus the only way to survive better in the new dungeon is to obtain Ascended gear. Why did Anet not make a separate accessory slot for infusion on the character sheet that is completely separate from all gear?

Agree with the OP it does make the game depressing and hard to double click the Icon

Zoul.1087:

and results in my wife being reduced to tears because some jerk won’t stop telling her she is not trying hard enough.

Content gating, power creep and gear treadmills sometimes bring out the worse in people. I am sorry that happened to your wife. So much for creating a “fun,” cooperative environment.

That guy might have been just as bad if this game was still based on “playing your way” or “no gear stat progression,” but this movement towards vertical progression seems to attract more people like that.

I spent 4 years in a MMO with an ever increasing toxic environment. Racisim, sexism, insults, mockery, etc. People acting like the game was a job that I better dedicate my life to. Even experienced being judge on my performance like a job evaluation.

Finally got fed up and left. Have never looked back.

Those of us who have experienced this kind of behavior in traditional MMOs came to this game hoping for better. To date, I have found a wonderful guild and have enjoyed playing with others. But what will things be like in a few months?

I would have to agree. Since the last patch I have lost interest in even logging in.

I did not purchase this game for another pve gear treadmill. I quit playing wow and all the other pve treadmill clones some time ago and have no intention of going back to them.

I bought this game because I was told it was going to be different and that end game would be more pvp focused and it didn’t matter that I had very limited playtime because I would never have to item grind to keep pace.

Now the only benefit the game has is there is no monthly fee, but honestly there are so many F2P item treadmill games available at this point its hardly a benefit. Also I would gladly pay 15$ a month if a game was fun.

At the end of the day I am now left feeling that gw2 was another pointless waste of money. Perhaps it is my fault for thinking an online game would actually be different. I have been playing borderlands2, darksiders2, me3, and similar.

I got an Ascended ring drop from level 10 of the dungeon. It’s worrying how much my damage increased after picking it up, and how effective the Infusion was against Agony. I thought it would be a systematic, slow increase in punishment, but it’s instantaneously unforgiving when you don’t have Infusions. When we all got hit at the same time by Agony, I was the only one left standing. That’s ridiculous.

dalendria.3762:

Zoul.1087:

and results in my wife being reduced to tears because some jerk won’t stop telling her she is not trying hard enough.

Content gating, power creep and gear treadmills sometimes bring out the worse in people. I am sorry that happened to your wife. So much for creating a “fun,” cooperative environment.

That guy might have been just as bad if this game was still based on “playing your way” or “no gear stat progression,” but this movement towards vertical progression seems to attract more people like that.

I spent 4 years in a MMO with an ever increasing toxic environment. Racisim, sexism, insults, mockery, etc. People acting like the game was a job that I better dedicate my life to. Even experienced being judge on my performance like a job evaluation.

Finally got fed up and left. Have never looked back.

Those of us who have experienced this kind of behavior in traditional MMOs came to this game hoping for better. To date, I have found a wonderful guild and have enjoyed playing with others. But what will things be like in a few months?

Agreed. The issue stems from the design of the game. When GW2 first launched it was mostly about cooperation and working together and it was a refreshing change of pace from other MMOs. Now, with the focus switching to a gear grind, people are becoming increasingly nasty to each other. Whereas before people had to play nice with each other, now they view others as holding them back from the gear… err I mean content.

Eder.9120:

The only area this really affects is WvW. A lot of people who like the new tier of gear readily admit they don’t even play WvW, which is why they can’t see the other point of view.

With PvE, if you don’t care about Fractals, you won’t need Agony counters anyway. And the stats increase other people get won’t really bother you.

I really wish WvWvW players would stop throwing open world PvE players under the bus to try to get what they want.

In open PvE, most of your wealth is generated off events. Most don’t grind as hard as the dungeon grinders, but if you want something, it is hard to avoid spending some time farming events to pay for it.

If the person next to you has a statistical advantage, he’ll down more mobs faster, meaning fewer you can tag, essentially making money at your expense. So, if you have a limited time to play, you’re getting less money for the time you spend doing something just to get money.

There is a subset of players that don’t just want more, pretty much everyone wants more, but they want more than others. Ascended gear in open PvE lets them not only get more, but keep others making less. And those dungeon grinders that just (rightfully) want to show off their hard-earned gear where there are a lot of people will end up doing it just by playing events.

You have to pay your dues and earn a little less when you’re running in lesser gear now. But the time you spend doing that is reasonable with what you need to earn for exotics. The amount of time needed for ascended gear means a lot of people will never get past having someone steal gold out of their characters pockets just by playing the same event.

I honestly try not to think of Ascended gear and how much it will cost me to craft it all.

I am hoping that by the time my warrior gets to 80 (already have multiple 80s I dumped due to a gear grind) things will be different.

So start your own group. Instead you’d rather someone else do that work, well fine but then dont complain when they do something you dont like. Nothing is stopping you from forming a group yourself.

MistaMike.7356:

So start your own group. Instead you’d rather someone else do that work, well fine but then dont complain when they do something you dont like. Nothing is stopping you from forming a group yourself.

I did. That was the first one that went flawlessly. However the doesn’t resolve the initial issue. Had it been reversed and the guy joined my group. Would he be any less of a jerk? Being party leader puts you in change of nothing. You do realize that.

I should mention I am also a commander. During the events on the lost shore I was with a huge group of people. No one was rude to me or my wife. Because the events are totally open. No one is a felt to be a burden in an event. Dungeons on the other hand open up a dodge ball mentality.

-I don’t want you my team your gear is not good enough
-I don’t want you my team your level is too low.
-I don’t want you my team your class is not good enough.

It also makes the weakest or the slowest player feel bad, or people who struggle at all get torn down by some of the players.

When someone makes a mistake I am not rude to them. I revive and do what I can. However some in these dungeons make it a chore/job and everything you do is wrong.

I’m in the same boat. A lot of the luster is gone from the time I play. Little things like getting held or pulled on my way to an event aren’t just a challenge of the game, it feels like every bit of time I lose is falling further behind.

rozcinana.7249:

I actually like FoTM a lot, but I have found it impossible to get past level 4. Someone, or more than one person, either disconnects and can’t get back in or people become frustrated and quit in the middle of it.

I’m looking forward to the difficulty reset (when is it? Friday night??)… hoping to start fresh next week with some more experienced and patient players and get past lvl 4!

Hey, Zoul. Maybe we should all team up and try again?

Sorry to tell you but there is no reset. That was wrong and the level doesnt reset.
I think one of the fan sites got the info wrong.
A dev stated clearly there is no reset.

Anet’s stance on WvWvW is that it’s war and not meant to be fair. This concept has worked well so far, and would continue to, IF Ascended gear were made accessible through all the same means as exotic gear. Perhaps allow Badges of Honor to be exchanged for Fractal currency.

krookie.6378:

250 tier 6 mats (powerful blood is at about 25s+ right now)
50 ectos
RNG essence

That’s just for 1 back piece. Then you got the infusion mats. You honestly want to tell me that it’s not grinding? How are you suppose to get those mats or gold for them?

Gems? That’s one way, if you don’t want to achieve them any other way.

Remember that list 80 things to do at 80? Remember how that was ridiculed into the dust, because someone had a constructive post (with a bit of humor sprinkled in) about what to do at 80, when many were suggesting there was nothing. Well, now there’s 81. Somehow that’s a bad thing.

Since there will be other ways of achieving it opened to us soon, I don’t really see the fuss. We really don’t have all the information available to claim game-breaking yet. But here we are.

FotM as a whole
The dungeon itself is great, some fractals have new and fun mechanics or encounters, I absolutely love the Uncategorized Fractal and the Cliffside Fractal for their scenery and the small puzzles included. But overall the dungeon is rather easy and most boss fights are kinda one dimensional, I miss some more complex and challenging ecnounters like Simin or Lupi from Arah. They are not all as boring as the Jellyfish but most of them should get a few more mechanics.

The Scaling System
Let’s be honest: Here you really made a huge mistake, the whole system is garbage.
The dungeon is way to easy in the first 10 levels. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to start easy so the less experienced players can get used to the mechanics but if you make things too easy people will just ignore certain menchanics and there is no learning effect.
The scaling system ist also a hell of a grind. Even if you are an experienced player you still have to start from lvl 1, and you have to do it with every char you own since the scaling is per char and not per account, which makes it even more grindy. Players should be free to choose which level they want to do or the scaling should at least be account wide.

Relics and Loot
Something else I don’t really get. You rarely get ascended items, and when you do so they are account bound and unique, so you can’t use the same item twice or sell your drops. Yes, you can give them to your twinks, but why should you do that since they can’t enter FotM at the same level as your main.
We also hardly get relics, starting with 5 per fractal and increasing it by one every five levels just seems like a bad joke, especially when you considere that you have to pay 1350 relics for an exotic back piece and 500 for the gift. Compared to other dungeons we get less tokens per hour and have to pay way more to get exotics at the same time, this just doesn’t make any sense.
And there is no option do buy ascended gear, vials or globs with relics, everything solely depends on drop luck. There are two infusions, wich do exatcly the same but the omin infusion costs 225 relics instead of 75. The bags are nice, but why are they priced differently and why are the exotic bags the most expensive ones? Exotic rarely drops.
Another thing that bothers me is that currently FotM offers the best loot of all dungeons but is, compared to Arah or CoE, rather easy, even with Agony there is no real challenge.

Agony
Agony is a simple gear check, period. It’s there to slow down people who try to reach higher levels of FotM and it just simulates difficulty. I don’t like it, I really don’t.
It’s also very sad how boring this gear check is implemented. There is no new boss mechanic or any kind of tradeoff you can/have to make. At lvl 10+ some attacks just also apply Agony, that’s it.
If you really think GW2 needs a gear check at least be a little more creative with it.

Things that have to change

1. The scaling system can stay but it shouldn’t be used as a content blocker. Let every player freely choose which difficulty he wants to do, no matter if he is an experienced veteran or a noob. Or, at least, let us start with level 10 or 15. Even if you don’t want to do that, the progress has to be account wide and not per char.
2. The grind needs to go away. All ascended gear should be buyable via tokens for 300 relics max for a standard quality. Infused items can cost 400 or 500 tokens. The price for exotic backpieces has to drastically go down to 200 tokens at max, 1350 is ridiculous. Just compare it to exotics from other dungeons and don’t forget that you get way less tokens per hour from FotM than form any other dungeon, even Arah.
3. The mystic forge recipes have to change, they require way too much t6 crafting components and gold.
4. The “old dungeons” need a rework so that it is possible to get ascended gear from them. And no, I’m not talking about random drops here.

Before we begin this fascinating discussion I’ll state my credentials.

Before GW2 I was a hardcore raider in WoW. I was part of the 5%(?) that ever saw the inside of Sun Well Plateau in WoW. I have cleared ICC Heroic. You can say I am pretty good at PvE in WoW.

As of GW2, I have cleared every dungeon on every path without wipes. Giganticus Lupicus is easy. Subject Alpha is cake. I think I’ve only wiped on Subject Alpha once and that’s when my guild was messing around and used the guns from path 2 to give him perma 25 stacks of Might.

Now I will go ahead and say this: Fractals is not something meant to be PuG’d nor should it be. It’s like trying to PuG Heroic Raids in WoW. You can try. You might be able to clear the easier content, but in the end, you’re looking for a bad time.

The lack of any VOIP like Mumble/TS/Vent alone can make most of the paths a chore. These dungeons require a large amount of group coordination and effort. I’m not surprised if some of the more emotional gamers start to become angry over hours on low level paths.

I won’t defend anyone for ripping someone else a new one (I like to think I’ve grown out of that from my younger years) but I want you to understand that dungeons like these are hard and meant to be hard.

You need a good group. You need coordination. And most of all you need something more than picking up 3 random people from Lion’s Arch.

I am sorry you had a terrible experience and your wife became so saddened but understand that there is something you can do to avoid this.

slazzy.7309:

krookie.6378:

250 tier 6 mats (powerful blood is at about 25s+ right now)
50 ectos
RNG essence

That’s just for 1 back piece. Then you got the infusion mats. You honestly want to tell me that it’s not grinding? How are you suppose to get those mats or gold for them?

Gems? That’s one way, if you don’t want to achieve them any other way.

Remember that list 80 things to do at 80? Remember how that was ridiculed into the dust, because someone had a constructive post (with a bit of humor sprinkled in) about what to do at 80, when many were suggesting there was nothing. Well, now there’s 81. Somehow that’s a bad thing.

Since there will be other ways of achieving it opened to us soon, I don’t really see the fuss. We really don’t have all the information available to claim game-breaking yet. But here we are.

The amount of things to do at 80 is irrelevant to my point which was a reply to a comment that there is no grinding involved in acquiring ascended gear. Within the game itself, ascended gear requires a lot of grinding. Gems are essentially outside of the game, since they require a purchase with real money. Saying trade gems for gold is like saying “buy gold from a farmer.”

Let the grinders play around all they want in their little dungeons. Just allow those of us who hate dungeons to get the same gear in more enjoyable ways. This should have been available from day one.

Aleaf.8174:

Before we begin this fascinating discussion I’ll state my credentials.

Before GW2 I was a hardcore raider in WoW. I was part of the 5%(?) that ever saw the inside of Sun Well Plateau in WoW. I have cleared ICC Heroic. You can say I am pretty good at PvE in WoW.

As of GW2, I have cleared every dungeon on every path without wipes. Giganticus Lupicus is easy. Subject Alpha is cake. I think I’ve only wiped on Subject Alpha once and that’s when my guild was messing around and used the guns from path 2 to give him perma 25 stacks of Might.

Now I will go ahead and say this: Fractals is not something meant to be PuG’d nor should it be. It’s like trying to PuG Heroic Raids in WoW. You can try. You might be able to clear the easier content, but in the end, you’re looking for a bad time.

The lack of any VOIP like Mumble/TS/Vent alone can make most of the paths a chore. These dungeons require a large amount of group coordination and effort. I’m not surprised if some of the more emotional gamers start to become angry over hours on low level paths.

I won’t defend anyone for ripping someone else a new one (I like to think I’ve grown out of that from my younger years) but I want you to understand that dungeons like these are hard and meant to be hard.

You need a good group. You need coordination. And most of all you need something more than picking up 3 random people from Lion’s Arch.

I am sorry you had a terrible experience and your wife became so saddened but understand that there is something you can do to avoid this.

That is all fine and dandy. However getting people in a guild to do this or friends is pretty much impossible. As they all have quit playing. Thanks in part due to some of the recent changes. So unless I can make new friends who want to do the same dungeon 50 times. I think I will just move on and hope the new PVE content is improved for these ascended items. I have faith in arena net and and merely discussing my experience.

Like I said the first group listened and worked together flawlessly. We completed with little or no armor damage in 1.5 hours. Doing colossus, grawl, and charr quests.

Alright, hear me out.

Instead of implementing ascended gear / infusions with better stats (percentages vary depending on whose math you subscribe to – for our purposes, let’s say 10%) than exotics, how about we just scale the stats on the monsters in FotM back by 10%? Should be net neutral in terms of gameplay, right? I mean, 50 minus 50 is the same as 55 minus 55, so why are we so concerned about arriving at the same result, only with larger numbers along the way?

Took me all morning to think this up.

Do you think this is going to be the only way to obtain ascended gear?

Hell no.

This is the way to obtain back armor and rings. I’m sure there will be entirely new ways to obtain the other gear.

Agreed. Getting higher stat gear to fight higher stat monsters does nothing other than lead to number inflation.

All it does is gate some content while leading to obsolescence of other content. It also leads to stratification of power among players, which divides the community into segments.

Sure, they are meant to be hard, just like every other explorable dungeon. None of them are inherently pug friendly. Problem is the stupid artificial gating system.

To better illustrate, consider this:
You must do Story mode on every character for a dungeon if you want to join an explorable group.
You must complete Path 1 in that day if you want to do Path 2.
You must complete Path 2 in that day if you want to do Path 3.

That’s what the current fractals are, essentially. I’ve done 44 fractals according to my achievement tab, without ever failing one, and am still only on level 8. I currently have 6 guildies online, but can’t play, because i am sick of getting people through the lower levels, it does not benefit me at all. I don’t have the right people online in order to progress. I am forced to progress to at least level 10 in order to play the daily RNG lottery and hope to get a ring, or vial in order to be able to keep progressing when the right people do end up being online.

All the people saying but they added stuff, the old stuff is still there, just keep doing that… You can’t. there just aren’t enough people, to uncontested the dungeons and do them with.

Masterpyro.4310:

Why did I waste 2 months of my life leveling and getting all the gear if I’m on the same playing field as noobs that just opened an account? I love that this game is about skill, but I don’t think you understand the concept of reward in games, the way the industry has conditioned us to expect(Great video another player linked before that explains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c). That’s not how MMOs work. GW2 is a different game but you simply cannot take reward out of this style of game, it is expected. People are leaving the game because ANet tried doing it differently and unfortunately it doesn’t work as-is, people don’t like it, they are conditioned to feel like there’s nothing to do if they can’t get better “stuff”.

And I don’t give 2 kitten about looking prettier than you(I already found my favorite skins so im done in that aspect of the game), I want to rip off your head and kitten down your neck. “There’s other games that do this” is not a valid response, I want to do it in Tyria with these sexy graphics and this specific combat system.

What if those “noobs” just opening an account are your friends. Do you know how many games I’ve skipped past that my friends have wanted me to play? I won’t join a game if it’s going to take me months to catch up to my friends in terms of power. Vertical progression locks new players out of the game and locks existing players into their builds and professions.

Oh, and for “wasting two months of your life,” that implies that you spent those 2 months preparing to have fun instead of skipping straight to the “having fun” part. This is what GW2 was supposed to be against.

I don’t know anything about ascended gear, except what was inside the Kraka box. I’m still very pleased with the game. Maybe I’ll get interested when my Elementalist is level 80, but until then it is not effecting me at all and the game is still very pleasing. I’m sorry you are not enjoying it like I am…

The content isn’t in question. The ‘required’ status of ascended gear is.

Fact: You don’t need the agony stats on ascended gear until fractal difficulty 10.

Fact: by the time you reach difficulty 10, you have seen all of the content.

Fact: You can do difficulties 1-9 just fine in exotics.

Fact: You don’t need ascended gear to do anything else in the game other than grind a dungeon you already seem to not want to grind.

I’m sprry that some rude person made your wife cry. People on the internet are often jerks. However, when people point at content and say “PUGS are a PROBLEM” its just not true. Your crappy group and that rude guy were a problem. Your inability to laugh at his too-serious mentality is the problem. Your inability to make all of three friends is the problem.

You’re blaming the game for the simple fact that people are rude. They would have been rude in the release dungons, and if it were at all possible for a mega-zerg event to go seriously wrong they would have been rude the moment that happened.

You’ve already been told that fractals are not intended to be the only way to acquire ascended gear, and for the moment the only thing you need ascended for is fractals. Just go do something else, bank some gold and karma, and be prepared for when you can acquire that gear without doing content you dislike.

If they did that and let the drops go a little better I wouldnt hesitate to come back.
I would have felt my issues were heard but now no chance.

But the uber grind crowd dont like that. They need the better # and to have the advantage of gear over skill. That is who they are appealing to and want to play the game.

Not me who spends my time playing how I want or the casual we and our money are not wanted. Just how I see it anyway.

slazzy.7309:

Remember that list 80 things to do at 80? Remember how that was ridiculed into the dust, because someone had a constructive post (with a bit of humor sprinkled in) about what to do at 80, when many were suggesting there was nothing.

Wait, 80 things to do at 80? I missed that post. I saw a great one that should have been stickied that had about 14 or 15 things. It helped me identify content I did not even know about.

So as Arenanet put it, the new gear stat tier was introduced for the “dedicated players” who maxed out things to do after hitting lvl 80 and felt going for the Legendary would take too long (remember they said Ascendant was introduced for them to bridge the “time to acquire” gap).

You mean to tell me those “dedicated players” did 80 things or at least a decent percentage. That those players did those things to completion (titles, achievements, acquisition of harder to get Exotics).

I still say that it was not a question of the lack of “gear stat progression” for those “dedicated players.” It was the fact that those “dedicated players” did not like some or most of the content and therefore, skipped or rushed through it. They probably expected and still want more of the traditional MMO content (raids, holy trinity, maybe even quest hubs).

If I am right, how is adding a new gear tier going to be enough to keep them interested?

Will there be raids next? Return to the Holy Trinity? Online sites that let them show off their achievements (better gear)?

Now some people might ask, “Under your idea, what is, then, the point of FotM?”

Prepare to have your minds blown – The solution: Awesome skins that you can only get from FotM. Therefore, the players who want to do that stuff are rewarded, and the more casual players don’t feel left behind.

Narkosys.5173:

Sorry to tell you but there is no reset. That was wrong and the level doesnt reset.
I think one of the fan sites got the info wrong.
A dev stated clearly there is no reset.

Really? How disappointing. Thanks for clarifying

PopeUrban.2578:

The content isn’t in question. The ‘required’ status of ascended gear is.

Fact: You don’t need the agony stats on ascended gear until fractal difficulty 10.

Fact: by the time you reach difficulty 10, you have seen all of the content.

Fact: You can do difficulties 1-9 just fine in exotics.

Fact: You don’t need ascended gear to do anything else in the game other than grind a dungeon you already seem to not want to grind.

I’m sprry that some rude person made your wife cry. People on the internet are often jerks. However, when people point at content and say “PUGS are a PROBLEM” its just not true. Your crappy group and that rude guy were a problem. Your inability to laugh at his too-serious mentality is the problem. Your inability to make all of three friends is the problem.

You’re blaming the game for the simple fact that people are rude. They would have been rude in the release dungons, and if it were at all possible for a mega-zerg event to go seriously wrong they would have been rude the moment that happened.

You’ve already been told that fractals are not intended to be the only way to acquire ascended gear, and for the moment the only thing you need ascended for is fractals. Just go do something else, bank some gold and karma, and be prepared for when you can acquire that gear without doing content you dislike.

A lot of people are not reading what I posted. Let me restate it a different way.

A job pays you $40 an hour doing something you hate but it pays $40 an hour.

A job you love pays little to nothing and will put you in debt for years.

Which will you pick?

The problem isn’t even the content itself. It’s that its not consistent.

- Some of the dungeons are so easy you can get through them in like 10 minutes. and others can take 2 hours.
- Some are class friendly, so I hope you have the right class. (usually elementist)
- Some require that you have a super cohesive team.
- Some require no teamwork at all.

I like most the dungeons to be honest. I never said I hate the content. The problem of some of it is its a little unforgiving.

The fact that you can’t do anything else and progress on the same level makes it a gear treadmill. Sorry but it is.

The other problem is unlike any other dungeon since all the levels are mismatched, finding the right level and people is very difficult.

Ditton.3149:

slazzy.7309:

You want depressing? Try a little Norma Jean:

“And it seems to me that you caused a grind,
like a fiercely-blowing wind…

Never knowing who you promised,
when the manifesto set in…

And I would have liked to gain cap
before Ascended hit…

Your promise burned out long before…
but my dreaming never did"

This is getting ridiculously old. We get it..many people dont like it, its becoming less feedback and more incessant whining.

Your incessant complaints about the opinions of others are incessant whining. At least what we say has relevance to the game and the parts we believe need changing (or really, DIDN’T need changing to begin with but were changed anyway). The reason it keeps dragging on is because we get no response whatsoever. If you’re tired of hearing it, feel free to encourage Anet to RESPOND to their playerbase about the biggest issue since the launch of the game.

Darx.9842:

Do you think this is going to be the only way to obtain ascended gear?

Hell no.

This is the way to obtain back armor and rings. I’m sure there will be entirely new ways to obtain the other gear.

Yep. Except for the dev post stating that Ascended weapons will ALL be “dropped in higher levels of the Fractals dungeon”.

Yeah, really feeling that diverse approach to gear acquisition.

why does it take 1300 Fractal tokens for a back piece? can’t i just buy one from the armor merchant (not counting the merchant that has them, already)? i would pay up to 5 gold for one, just saying… i currently have 20 tokens, and was super excited, until i looked at the selection of items i could get.

Thanks to all the groups i had that were so patient with me!

rgrwng.4072:

why does it take 1300 Fractal tokens for a back piece? can’t i just buy one from the armor merchant (not counting the merchant that has them, already)? i would pay up to 5 gold for one, just saying… i currently have 20 tokens, and was super excited, until i looked at the selection of items i could get.

Thanks to all the groups i had that were so patient with me!

Those are just the exotic ones, which have no bearing on the Ascended ones. For the Ascended, you need 300 globs of Ectoplasm, 6 Vials of mist essence, 250 of a t6 material, and some other assorted skill-point items.