Guild Wars 2

To make things worse, the more time current fotm levels system exists the more there’ll be problems.
Even now it is absurd. Map chat in LA is something like:
“Person 1: lfg fractals lvl 6
Person 2: lfg fractals lvl 7
Person 3: lfg fractals lvl 8”

No one wants to do lower levels because they fear to be left behind and want to go up. And there is not enough players to lvl up easily.
Also, you need to be in overflow to have any chance of getting a group. And if you’re playing at night – tough luck. No overflow for you, means no party for fractals.

Veltoss.9135:

moirweyn.9872:

I hate the new gear because we weren’t supposed to have a vertical gear grind in this game. I hate the new dungeons because it has destroyed the dynamic events in the higher level areas completely. I am very disgusted with ANet for putting that crap in the game.

Good job ANexxSoft

Once again, the “grind” (which really isn’t much of a true grind at all) will disappear once they’ve added more ascended gear. The new dungeons will not be taking people away after a while once there are other ways to get ascended gear. People freaking out over a temporary problem for the sake of having something to kitten about.

You don’t get it and it won’t go back to normal.

The whole reason people are doing these new dungeons in lieu of the dynamic events in Orr is the new gear. We were never supposed to have a ‘gear grind’ in this game at all because it does exactly the things it is doing to the game now.

Mil.3562:

No.

Before FotM, only the low and mid level maps were empty. Orr was pretty active then, especially in Cursed Shores. Now… DEAD. RIP.

clearly we see who progressed by dungeon running and who enjoyed exploring the world and too each their own playstyle just dont give one a reward w/o rewarding the other game style

I for one wonder what use was it to put in karma jugs and such a week or two before expansion when all this gear makes karma virtually useless unless you want to buy recipes or crafting material

Vigil.3408:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/power-creep

This is why Arena Nets direction will kill Guild Wars 2. It’s not the direction that, I believe, the game was originally designed to take. Horizontal progression has always been Guild Wars’ trademark. This is not horizontal progression.

Thanks for the link. Education is probably the best medicine for those who think “vertical progression” spells end-game or even goes anywhere. There is a reason why it’s called a treadmill. As people learn more about game design there will be less call for elements which are recognized as just feeding the hamsters. Hamsters like treadmills but they have a very short attention span and will never be satisfied on their journey to nowhere.

Interesting video.

moirweyn.9872:

Veltoss.9135:

moirweyn.9872:

I hate the new gear because we weren’t supposed to have a vertical gear grind in this game. I hate the new dungeons because it has destroyed the dynamic events in the higher level areas completely. I am very disgusted with ANet for putting that crap in the game.

Good job ANexxSoft

Once again, the “grind” (which really isn’t much of a true grind at all) will disappear once they’ve added more ascended gear. The new dungeons will not be taking people away after a while once there are other ways to get ascended gear. People freaking out over a temporary problem for the sake of having something to kitten about.

You don’t get it and it won’t go back to normal.

The whole reason people are doing these new dungeons in lieu of the dynamic events in Orr is the new gear. We were never supposed to have a ‘gear grind’ in this game at all because it does exactly the things it is doing to the game now.

What don’t I “get”? They’re going to add more ascended gear and more ways to get it, they have said this. Temporarily, Fractals is the only way to get the current ascended gear. Temporarily, many people are doing Fractals rather than dynamic events. This is something that will be smoothed out with future patches as dynamic events are rebalanced and more ascended gear is added to the game.

But rather than be patient, people would rather freak the kitten out and act like the game is going to completely change forever. Let’s just make a huge jump to assumptions for the sake of having something to freak out about.

People would still want to be doing FotM right now even if there was no Ascended gear, it always happens in any MMO when new content is added – people want to do the new stuff.

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

Some people lacked the ability to find things to do at 80. there was plenty of progression. It didn’t require mindless dungeon grinding. I think that’s much sadder – that people wanted the hamster wheel.

Columba.9730:

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

Some people lacked the ability to find things to do at 80. there was plenty of progression. It didn’t require mindless dungeon grinding. I think that’s much sadder – that people wanted the hamster wheel.

It’s actually ironic that players who need a gear grind treadmill call people who hate it “lazy.” All gear grinds are is a mechanic by which to lead those who lack the ability to self-initiate to find direction. These are the same types of players who log into a sandbox game and are constantly spamming the chat box with “what do I do,” “Where do I go now,” and “there is nothing to do in this game.” We see it all the time, don’t we?

Columba.9730:

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

Some people lacked the ability to find things to do at 80. there was plenty of progression. It didn’t require mindless dungeon grinding. I think that’s much sadder – that people wanted the hamster wheel.

Well if your hamster grows up with a wheel in its cage, and then after a few years you take it away from him… hell have no idea what to do with himself. So hes going to “want” his wheel back, but only because he doesnt know a life without one.

Of course hamsters lack the mental ability to realize that there IS no cage, and that they can walk over to another room that still has its hamster wheel. But hey human beings are smarter than that right? So perhaps I chose the wrong analogy…

Hawks.5736:

Columba.9730:

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

Some people lacked the ability to find things to do at 80. there was plenty of progression. It didn’t require mindless dungeon grinding. I think that’s much sadder – that people wanted the hamster wheel.

Well if your hamster grows up with a wheel in its cage, and then after a few years you take it away from him… hell have no idea what to do with himself. So hes going to “want” his wheel back, but only because he doesnt know a life without one.

Of course hamsters lack the mental ability to realize that there IS no cage, and that they can walk over to another room that still has its hamster wheel. But hey human beings are smarter than that right? So perhaps I chose the wrong analogy…

It saddens me to say that you could not have been more right in your analogy. As it applies to GW2, these players where lost in the world and squirming in desperation for some direction, until Anet came along, picked them up, and placed them on their happy treadmills. They are all happy as a hog neck-deep in a mud pen now.

Correciton, FotM managed to not only kill GW2, it’s also slowly strangling ITSELF

The gating system is causing even those who absolutely adore FotM to turn on one another like members of the Donner party.

Veltoss.9135:

moirweyn.9872:

Veltoss.9135:

moirweyn.9872:

I hate the new gear because we weren’t supposed to have a vertical gear grind in this game. I hate the new dungeons because it has destroyed the dynamic events in the higher level areas completely. I am very disgusted with ANet for putting that crap in the game.

Good job ANexxSoft

Once again, the “grind” (which really isn’t much of a true grind at all) will disappear once they’ve added more ascended gear. The new dungeons will not be taking people away after a while once there are other ways to get ascended gear. People freaking out over a temporary problem for the sake of having something to kitten about.

You don’t get it and it won’t go back to normal.

The whole reason people are doing these new dungeons in lieu of the dynamic events in Orr is the new gear. We were never supposed to have a ‘gear grind’ in this game at all because it does exactly the things it is doing to the game now.

What don’t I “get”? They’re going to add more ascended gear and more ways to get it, they have said this. Temporarily, Fractals is the only way to get the current ascended gear. Temporarily, many people are doing Fractals rather than dynamic events. This is something that will be smoothed out with future patches as dynamic events are rebalanced and more ascended gear is added to the game.

But rather than be patient, people would rather freak the kitten out and act like the game is going to completely change forever. Let’s just make a huge jump to assumptions for the sake of having something to freak out about.

They should’t have added a mechanic that can only be overcome by gear. It encourages “gear-check elitism”, and even if they add it to other dungeons, it will just make them work in the same horrendous way fractals do, where 20 people can all be looking for the same one, but none will want (or be able) to play with one another due to the stupid level gating.

The entire fractal concept was a horrible idea, even if it were dropped into a traditional gear-grind game like WoW.

Whoever was responsible for it should be sent to another department unrelated to game design, or sent to the “salt mines” until they understand why what they did was so very wrong, especially in an MMO which is just starting to build a community.

Hawks.5736:

People would still want to be doing FotM right now even if there was no Ascended gear, it always happens in any MMO when new content is added – people want to do the new stuff.

Perhaps, but with the introduction of gear stat progression (the carrot) in conjunction with Fractals, we and Arenanet will never truly know.

They should really just make events give much better rewards. And lower level zones give better rewards still. Makes it so that the rewards in Orr is only 30% better than the starting zones and that the events in Orr have a chance to drop ascended.

Also karma ascended, craftable ascended, and wvw ascended and tradable ascended.

plasmacutter.2709:

They should’t have added a mechanic that can only be overcome by gear. It encourages “gear-check elitism”, and even if they add it to other dungeons, it will just make them work in the same horrendous way fractals do, where 20 people can all be looking for the same one, but none will want (or be able) to play with one another due to the stupid level gating.

Its a good thing that they didn’t add a mechanic that can be overcome only by gear, or you might have had a point (of course, you do reach a point at which having said gear is nice). The only unavoidable application of Agony as of so far in twenty levels and growing of diving, is the Jade Maw’s phase change which can be countered by damage mitigators. Every. Single. Other. Application. Of. Agony. Can. Be. Avoided. By. Playing. Well.

You have a plethora of skills that can be used to entirely avoid Agony, and if you work as a team you can completely trivialize the Agony mechanics of certain bosses. (And some bosses, Svanir Shaman, are complete jokes, Agony or not.)

Yes, it hurts to get hit by agony and, yes, sometimes it will down you. But its not a “gear” check issue until you reach depths that no longer have statistically better rewards. Want to know what exists after 20+ levels of diving where, maybe just maybe, you might start wanting some Agony protection in case you mess up or want to make the Jade Maw easier? Skins. A whole bunch of skins. The best gear is at level 10, the point at which agony makes it first appearance, and a point which can be reached in full MF gear.

Anything deeper than 10 is purely for vanity, and since people didn’t have a problem grinding for vanity before… why did we suddenly start having problems with it now?

plasmacutter.2709:

The entire fractal concept was a horrible idea, even if it were dropped into a traditional gear-grind game like WoW.

I disagree. I think the concept of the fractals themselves is a good one.

What needs a rework is the tiering on entry mechanic.

Going by the posts in here… I’m curious as to how many people have even actually played this dungeon with Agony and how many are just espousing their beliefs, blindly.

Asglarek.8976:

Look around the world of Tyria all the Cathedrals have remained contested for nearly a week now not only that but go to the lower level zones most contestable waypoints stay contested the vast majority of the time, theres no dynamic event groups the world of Tyria is desolate and my only thoughts are the Dragons won the war.

Please dont have a christmas theme event.

personally, i stopped playing. i was loving the adventure to tell the truth. now with the new announcements, i’m feeling too betrayed to even want to log in. i come here each day though, just to see if anet’s got anything to say.

but, for me, turning into wow is killing me. i stopped playing wow for the very reasons you’re talking about. 90% of the map in wow is empty. and if you’ve enjoyed the levelling with a friend (or wife in my case), you get to the end and prepare to have some fun in dungeons, only to find you’re not going to be accepted into any group because you’re not geared. and every dungeon you DO get into is a pain to do because everyone wants to go through as fast as humanly possible, skip as much “trash mobs” as they can, leave groups with insults when they die, quit groups if the first boss you meet doesn’t drop that one piece of loot they were after so you’re left stranded and unable to finish the dungeon, or rage at you because your build is too support based rather than pure dps.

oh, so much joy in that mentality. not.

i havemy fingers crossed this is all a dream, because i want my gw2 back!

I will agree. The outdoors are pretty empty right now and most everything is contested and will stay contested. LA has turned into the FoTM LFG channel… quite sad really.

We are now locked into never having to leave LA for anything. Goodbye giant world of adventure, hello dungeon waiting room LA.

Minus.3478:

I will agree. The outdoors are pretty empty right now and most everything is contested and will stay contested. LA has turned into the FoTM LFG channel… quite sad really.

We are now locked into never having to leave LA for anything. Goodbye giant world of adventure, hello dungeon waiting room LA.

Yes, because the patch put up invisible walls around Lion’s Arch which you cannot at all leave. I, for one, continue to play outside of dungeons and in the open world, and I find a plethora of players on my travels who do just the same.

Minus.3478:

I will agree. The outdoors are pretty empty right now and most everything is contested and will stay contested. LA has turned into the FoTM LFG channel… quite sad really.

We are now locked into never having to leave LA for anything. Goodbye giant world of adventure, hello dungeon waiting room LA.

coming soon: flying mounts and a new race. orcs.

is that really an overreaction when you find yourself logging into gw2 and having wow flashbacks?

Silentstorm.7531:

The dungeon didn’t cause the shift the events slow timers and bugging is what really caused no one to do them. They should of left things alone like grenth and plinx. That all but murdered Orr.

Plinx should have been nerfed months ago ~ this was exploited constantly and don’t say it wasn’t. This is how a small portion of the playerbase got rich.

To me FotM brought back the annoying times in other MMORPGs when I was spending 30min in front of a dungeon with a 4/5 group spamming “looking for cleric”. Only now you’re looking for either people your level or people willing to go down at your level (which are not many). This was everything GW2 stood against as start so there goes another promise…

meh, it’s the same as all other MMOs. Gear grind. It’s not a candy coated special event… it’s MMO standard. The people trying to paint it as such have fooled themselves into thinking it’s different… when I’ve seen it done in almost every MMO.

Top gear showcased as something “different”.

I came to play this game because of WvW. But now that the gear line is forced to PvE challenges, I think I will consider another game very soon.

I really miss Shadowbane.

TsukasaHiiragi.9730:

Silentstorm.7531:

The dungeon didn’t cause the shift the events slow timers and bugging is what really caused no one to do them. They should of left things alone like grenth and plinx. That all but murdered Orr.

Plinx should have been nerfed months ago ~ this was exploited constantly and don’t say it wasn’t. This is how a small portion of the playerbase got rich.

Yes, earning 1 gold an hour is a fast track to riches.

Piriel.5197:

To me FotM brought back the annoying times in other MMORPGs when I was spending 30min in front of a dungeon with a 4/5 group spamming “looking for cleric”. Only now you’re looking for either people your level or people willing to go down at your level (which are not many). This was everything GW2 stood against as start so there goes another promise…

gw2lfg website works wonders.

Veltoss.9135:

moirweyn.9872:

Veltoss.9135:

moirweyn.9872:

I hate the new gear because we weren’t supposed to have a vertical gear grind in this game. I hate the new dungeons because it has destroyed the dynamic events in the higher level areas completely. I am very disgusted with ANet for putting that crap in the game.

Good job ANexxSoft

Once again, the “grind” (which really isn’t much of a true grind at all) will disappear once they’ve added more ascended gear. The new dungeons will not be taking people away after a while once there are other ways to get ascended gear. People freaking out over a temporary problem for the sake of having something to kitten about.

You don’t get it and it won’t go back to normal.

The whole reason people are doing these new dungeons in lieu of the dynamic events in Orr is the new gear. We were never supposed to have a ‘gear grind’ in this game at all because it does exactly the things it is doing to the game now.

What don’t I “get”? They’re going to add more ascended gear and more ways to get it, they have said this. Temporarily, Fractals is the only way to get the current ascended gear. Temporarily, many people are doing Fractals rather than dynamic events. This is something that will be smoothed out with future patches as dynamic events are rebalanced and more ascended gear is added to the game.

But rather than be patient, people would rather freak the kitten out and act like the game is going to completely change forever. Let’s just make a huge jump to assumptions for the sake of having something to freak out about.

You still don’t get it.

They never should have added ascended gear to the game.

The only kind of gear they said they would add was cosmetic only.

I don’t care about the stupid dungeons. These games have dungeons in them.

ANet lied and have gone silent on us. Combined, those are bad signs.

Yes, cosmetic only gear will pull in the masses for years to come. Hardly. They can only get away with that in games that have other kinds of depth and REAL competitive game modes. This game doesn’t have it yet.

It’s not that FotM killed fw2, it’s that the devs are spending way too much time working on new content and are not nearly focused enough on fixing current broken content, class balance and class bug fixes.

Nobody ever wants to run explorables anymore, or do anything out in the world they just wanna do fracs…While they’re fun it ruins the rest of the game.

Vigil.3408:

http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/power-creep

This is why Arena Nets direction will kill Guild Wars 2. It’s not the direction that, I believe, the game was originally designed to take. Horizontal progression has always been Guild Wars’ trademark. This is not horizontal progression.

Thank you for posting this video…very educational.

Natural.7013:

Yes, cosmetic only gear will pull in the masses for years to come. Hardly. They can only get away with that in games that have other kinds of depth and REAL competitive game modes. This game doesn’t have it yet.

He was right: You really don’t get it.
And please: Don’t forget, that GW1 did that and quiet well to be honest
GW2 is about to become a (bad) WoW-clone with some extras (although the combat-system can’t compare to games like AoCm f.e.)

GW2 was MEANT to be a game, where players are like “Well, I COULD play GW2 today but I’d like to play Skyrim, Dishonored, whatever – well no, I’ll go hang arround with some friends – but that’s not bad, it’s GW”

GW2 was never meant to be a game for these people we Germans call “Kellerkinder” (“basement-dwellers”), who prefer playing this game 6h+/365 instead of going to a party, the cinema, etc.
And ANsoft’s thought that these people will be the most profitable is simply laughable.
Because these Kellerkinder are the first one to leave for the “next big thing” and won’t spend any money in the gemstore.

This whole concept of F-Levels is just a load of crap… “LFG/M FotM Level XYZ” – this is even more disgusting than waiting XY minutes for a tank or healer (never happend to me anyway, because a always played one of those in other games)

I can forgive many things in this game, no matter how crackbrained they were.
F.e.: MY final mission in MY (Trahearne’s…) personal story: Some random PUG-dude’s character speaks all the time – I feel like simple grunt…
Or: Lost Shore’s Event (I invited two people for this (trial) – both left…) was bugged and the servers couldn’t handle it. I had to choose on Sunday “play phase 3 or go to bed early” (I have to travel 300 km/250 miles every monday/friday due my current bureau is in Hannover city).
I said: “You won’t miss a thing, no need for a skin or some greens, go to bed” and so I did… just to be told after the next log-in people were rewared with exotics equal to 3~6 gold or even Precursors – for a kittenin’ simple event!?
But even that’s fine… Maybe my fault or my jobs and I know, that I can’t expect to be on par with hardcore gamers due the time-invest – it’s fine.

What isn’t fine is, that due this kittened up Fractal mechanic people are simply left behind
I can’t stand being stuck at level 1 after three attempts, because either players believe this crap is over after one fractal and then leave or die and rage-quit during fractal 3 or – and I quote (translate) this – tell you: “Oh sorry, didn’t know this would take so long” and leave/dc.

Finally ANsoft brought up that feeling, seemingly many players were missing.
The infamous “must play or I’ll be left behind” – Gratz and GG ANsoft.
Don’t get me wrong, this Ascended-stuff maybe fine (after there are other ways to get it). But this Dungeon-level-crap is simply “kitten”.

FLW: This game isn’t even close to what the “manifesto” once told me.

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

I think it’s kind of sad that those who wanted to turn this beautifully casual game have actually succeeded now. And I must say, I’m appalled by all the QQ about having nothing to do at lvl 80 because of lack of vertical progression. Why did these people even bother to buy the game? Having no vertical gear progression at endlvl was one of the major selling points of the game. I thought most of the people would inform themselves about a product before buying it.

Playing GW 2 and crying over the lack of vertical progression is outright stating that you were too lazy to inform yourself and that you can’t live with the consequences. That’s like buying a motorbike and then complaining to the dealer that you get wet when it rains and that it’s missing 2 wheels, when in fact you should’ve informed yourself and come to the conclusion that what you actually wanted was a car.

What’s really sad for me is that I don’t have another MMO of triple A quality that offers what GW2 initially told it would offer. For all those who wanted vertical gear progression in an MMO, there were plenty of alternatives (WoW, Rift, SWToR, to name only the most prominent examples) they could’ve turned to.

But instead they chose to cry here and somehow convince the developers that they would be the ones they should cater to and that they are the ones paying their wages (which I seriously doubt) and now they have succeeded and the game is getting ruined for those of us who actually informed themselves about what to expect from GW2 and deliberately chose to buy the game for the “no gear-grind” approach.

Maybe because you noobcakes never did the dungeon or read patch notes.

1.Ascended gear isn’t better than legendary gear as it was bumped. Legendary armor will be introduce very soon you gonna complain that too huh? (Because you failed at reading all the patch notes and follow flamers who failed even more)

2. The dungeons are not hard at all it does get a little repetitive that isn’t all that fun. But I have done 3 a day for a week and got gear. OMG I’m SOOOO tired I had to raid 5 hours. Um no I didn’t shaddup drama queens if you didn’t or refuse to do it than you have a invalid say. Because literally according to your own words don’t know wtf you are talking about. BECAUSE you didn’t actually do it for some emo admitted reason here whining.

3. Ecto’s are plummeting in price because they can be easily made with lvl 80 rares. Just use a master salvaging kit and go farm rares not hard takes you like 1-3 days to do it. Or now buy it like anyone with “google skills” figured out a week ago how easy it is to make them. I even posted the formula to further drop the price down.

4. People should really read all notes it’s apparent 50% of this post didn’t. And fit the description or people who don’t know wtf they are talking about. Following more people who don’t know wtf they are talking about. You are in essence mad Anet added a step (you don’t haved to do at all).
That’s actually easier than legendaries fractal skins are worlds easier than legendary weapon skins. All you gotta do is win the dungeons at higher levels. Ever see What a legendary weapon takes versus maybe what 10 hours of your time in total? Yea that’s a big grind if you think that just quit now so we don’t haved to look at you drama queen out off of misinformation. And you KNOW legendary armor going to be a epic journey so yea ill do the dungeon. And I can’t believe emo kids are complaining about a EASIER road taken.

5. As far as the manifesto that is a case again of people not reading everything. I’ll give you a example of how people don’t read. They are all jumping all over that they are adding a gear treadmill. That omg guild wars 2 said they’re be no end game. Ok here is what was really said and how people focus on one statement and not the whole. What was said is Guild Wars 2 wouldn’t have a Traditional end game system. Meaning no gearing up to go raid token farming to go raid or dungeon farming to raid. What was SAID AFTER THAT which is what people failed at reading was.

The WHOLE game was considered end game as in you had a choice where to go with what you wanted to do. And they haven’t changed from that you DON’T need ascended gear to beat anyone in WvWvW. And you can’t use it at all in spvp. Out in the world dps doesn’t matter how many stand there and dps fights does this game have lol? So you really don’t haved to do it and why should you care what someone else chooses to do with their endgame time. That was the whole point of the manifesto in the first place you had choice. And silly misinformed whining people are mad at a extra choice that doesnt even effect them. Most of the people complaining wasn’t going to do legendary items. And they have the nerve to go on whinefests for a easier road yea gtfo the game then if your that lazy.

I aggree with you Turk with everything but saying it’s a gear grind. It’s too simple and too easy laughable to even be called a grind. I record like 10 games on you tube I can’t sit and focus on GW2 as much as I would like. But even with 2-3 hours a day I still have 2 pieces of ascended gear practically sleep walking it.

And I even have it on you tube. So I know for a fact people are just whining and misinformed. And as I explained in the post above most never was going to get legendaries and are blindly pissed at a easier option. Just because rather than try it they believe forum noobs who obviously don’t know whats really going on.

Silentstorm.7531:

I aggree with you Turk with everything but saying it’s a gear grind. It’s too simple and too easy laughable to even be called a grind.

I’ve done over 150 fractals and haven’t gotten a ring yet. If you’re going to pretend that’s not a grind, i have no clue what your definition of “grind” is.

Fractals is easily the most fun dungeon in the game. It also has decent rewards. However, on Tarnished Coast I still see plenty of people running story and explorable modes for previous dungeons because they want those gear tokens. Same for events in Orr to unlock karma vendors: yes, it’s happening. Could just be your server.

biggs.4702:

Fractals is easily the most fun dungeon in the game. It also has decent rewards. However, on Tarnished Coast I still see plenty of people running story and explorable modes for previous dungeons because they want those gear tokens. Same for events in Orr to unlock karma vendors: yes, it’s happening. Could just be your server.

I’m on a server that has queue’s for LA most all the time. orr is completly contested , and has been since the opening of FoTM. Hopefully that will change in time, but as long as the best gear and the best gold is found in FoTM, I don’t see that happening.

binidj.5734:

Memnoch.2589:

I am quite new to the game, highest level is 36, what is FotM? and how is it killing the game?

“FotM” stands for “Flavour of the Month” or “Fractals of the Mists” depending on how cynical you are. The reason it’s killing the game is that the entrance is in Lion’s Arch which means that, at the moment, the bulk of server population is sitting in LA looking for fractal groups, rather than being spread around the world participating in events. To be honest I, like others, think this is a temporary thing and that it’s only killing the game at the moment and things will get back to normal in a relatively short period of time.

However what looks like it may do more serious damage to the game is the introduction of new gear tiers to the game. Legendary items were initially the same power levels as Exotics, the only reason to obtain them was for cosmetic and bragging rights. Now they have raised the power level of Legendary items and created a new level of item, Ascended, at a level between Exotic and Legendary. Although I’m sure their intentions were good, what they’ve done here is to create what is called a “gear treadmill” where in order to compete with top-level content you need to have the top-level gear. Even before this there were stories of servers where some PuGs (pick up groups) for dungeons would require members to be fully equipped in exotic gear; with the introduction of Ascended and the power increase of Legendary items, it is possible that this trend will spread and become worse.

Oh No!
A PUG might require Ascended gear of its members! How terrible!

If you don’t like it, you can always start your own PUG. Oh but that would be too much work wouldn’t it. You’d rather piggyback on someone else putting together the group. You want to join someone else’s pug, then don’t get upset when they make the rules.

Natural.7013:

Yes, earning 1 gold an hour is a fast track to riches.

Under no circumstance should any player be able to earn 1 gold an hour. How else is ArenaNet going to sell gems?

Turkman.1089:

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

I think it’s kind of sad that those who wanted to turn this beautifully casual game have actually succeeded now. And I must say, I’m appalled by all the QQ about having nothing to do at lvl 80 because of lack of vertical progression. Why did these people even bother to buy the game? Having no vertical gear progression at endlvl was one of the major selling points of the game. I thought most of the people would inform themselves about a product before buying it.

Playing GW 2 and crying over the lack of vertical progression is outright stating that you were too lazy to inform yourself and that you can’t live with the consequences. That’s like buying a motorbike and then complaining to the dealer that you get wet when it rains and that it’s missing 2 wheels, when in fact you should’ve informed yourself and come to the conclusion that what you actually wanted was a car.

What’s really sad for me is that I don’t have another MMO of triple A quality that offers what GW2 initially told it would offer. For all those who wanted vertical gear progression in an MMO, there were plenty of alternatives (WoW, Rift, SWToR, to name only the most prominent examples) they could’ve turned to.

But instead they chose to cry here and somehow convince the developers that they would be the ones they should cater to and that they are the ones paying their wages (which I seriously doubt) and now they have succeeded and the game is getting ruined for those of us who actually informed themselves about what to expect from GW2 and deliberately chose to buy the game for the “no gear-grind” approach.

Yes, I am also confused why they bought a game that did not have the feature (gear stat progression) that they wanted.

Sadly, if this was a bad change, Arenanet and its core customer base will lose in the end. The people that love vertical progression will move on. The people that hate it will move on. Who will be left? And more importantly, what direction will Arenanet take then to keep them or try to win back the ones they lost?

Seems like the only winners will be those who wanted the game to fail in the first place.

Luceid.5631:

Natural.7013:

Yes, cosmetic only gear will pull in the masses for years to come. Hardly. They can only get away with that in games that have other kinds of depth and REAL competitive game modes. This game doesn’t have it yet.

He was right: You really don’t get it.
And please: Don’t forget, that GW1 did that and quiet well to be honest
GW2 is about to become a (bad) WoW-clone with some extras (although the combat-system can’t compare to games like AoCm f.e.)

GW2 was MEANT to be a game, where players are like “Well, I COULD play GW2 today but I’d like to play Skyrim, Dishonored, whatever – well no, I’ll go hang arround with some friends – but that’s not bad, it’s GW”

GW2 was never meant to be a game for these people we Germans call “Kellerkinder” (“basement-dwellers”), who prefer playing this game 6h+/365 instead of going to a party, the cinema, etc.
And ANsoft’s thought that these people will be the most profitable is simply laughable.
Because these Kellerkinder are the first one to leave for the “next big thing” and won’t spend any money in the gemstore.

This whole concept of F-Levels is just a load of crap… “LFG/M FotM Level XYZ” – this is even more disgusting than waiting XY minutes for a tank or healer (never happend to me anyway, because a always played one of those in other games)

I can forgive many things in this game, no matter how crackbrained they were.
F.e.: MY final mission in MY (Trahearne’s…) personal story: Some random PUG-dude’s character speaks all the time – I feel like simple grunt…
Or: Lost Shore’s Event (I invited two people for this (trial) – both left…) was bugged and the servers couldn’t handle it. I had to choose on Sunday “play phase 3 or go to bed early” (I have to travel 300 km/250 miles every monday/friday due my current bureau is in Hannover city).
I said: “You won’t miss a thing, no need for a skin or some greens, go to bed” and so I did… just to be told after the next log-in people were rewared with exotics equal to 3~6 gold or even Precursors – for a kittenin’ simple event!?
But even that’s fine… Maybe my fault or my jobs and I know, that I can’t expect to be on par with hardcore gamers due the time-invest – it’s fine.

What isn’t fine is, that due this kittened up Fractal mechanic people are simply left behind
I can’t stand being stuck at level 1 after three attempts, because either players believe this crap is over after one fractal and then leave or die and rage-quit during fractal 3 or – and I quote (translate) this – tell you: “Oh sorry, didn’t know this would take so long” and leave/dc.

Finally ANsoft brought up that feeling, seemingly many players were missing.
The infamous “must play or I’ll be left behind” – Gratz and GG ANsoft.
Don’t get me wrong, this Ascended-stuff maybe fine (after there are other ways to get it). But this Dungeon-level-crap is simply “kitten”.

FLW: This game isn’t even close to what the “manifesto” once told me.

Yes, this is the other thing disturbing about those that pushed for vertical progression. They keep making statements that no one wants horizontal progression. Guild Wars is the number 2 selling MMO. The only one higher is WOW. Guild Wars found a niche that loves horizontal progression. It is a financial success (review analysis if you do not believe me).

GW2 sold more than expected and the premise was horizontal progression. I just think someone has taken over internally that does not understand the customer market for this type of approach. They did not understand their core customer base and their motivators for spending money to support the game.

Good luck trying to attract and retain WOW-style players. You have no “holy trinity,” “no end-game raids,” “no griefing,” “no open-world PvP.” Besides a new gear tier that is not even a full set yet, what do you have that will keep them playing and more importantly, paying money in the Cash Shop?

I agree with you Dalendria. All this move will do for the producers is alienating their most loyal fans. Those who really love gear grinding models (and there is nothing wrong with doing so) won’t come here in droves. They will stay at the game that does this kind of gameplay the best: WoW.

I guess this will leave them with less players when the first hype is over.

Lifelike.5862:

Memnoch.2589:

So Arena Net promised not to add better dungeons or gear? Meaning once you hit 80 zero progression at all?

Yep. And some people actually think that’s a good idea. Kind of sad, really.

What’s sad is that you feel the need to compensate for your bad skills by having bigger numbers on your gear.