Guild Wars 2

At first I felt disappointed with the idea of a new tier of gear. Being a casual player, I was looking for a game that did not require grinding for gear progression just to participate in all of the content.

However, after sleeping on it and re-reading Linsey’s blog post, I am a little more open-minded about it.

I did find it a little strange that exotic was the cap for armor pieces, but that weapons had a level greater called legendary (agreed stats were the same). A little bit of gear progression is ok in my opinion, just as long as it doesn’t become the endless treadmill of always needing to upgrade your gear. After reading thoroughly through the post again, I feel that ANet has not strayed too far from their original promise. I’m trying to maintain the perspective that the “end-game” gear was just not in the game yet, and that this update will finally introduce it. The quote of "As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. " I am hoping is an indication that ascended will be the final cap for gear. It sounds like future end game content will still be capped at ascended gear (but that you would just swap out the infusions).

Here is at least what I am hoping will come with the ascended gear upgrades:
-Many visual options. I do not want to see everyone wearing the same sets of armor.
-Cap the progression. Some progression is ok, but I hope it does not become the perpetual grind many other MMO’s have become. This would exclude the casual player base.
-Have several methods of getting the gear. I think one driving factor of this change is to encourage more players to explore dungeons. While I too am looking for more motivation to complete dungeons, I would love to see some alternate ways of obtaining ascended gear. Not everything should be easily obtainable elsewhere, but maybe give us a few more options of getting some of the pieces (possibly to prepare better for the dungeon itself).

I am actually somewhat excited about the new way to obtain precursors. I think there is a lot of potential here (with the scavenger hunt idea). I would love to see a mechanic of having to search all areas of the world and hunt unique bosses for components to craft a precursor. It would give more players a reason to explore the beautiful world they have created.

I’m going to stay open minded and wait to see what ANet has put together before I make too many assumptions and judgements. They have put together an amazing product for us so far, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt that they will continue to provide us with the same great content they have in the past.

TLDR: I have some concerns, but I will be open minded and give ANet the benefit of the doubt.