Guild Wars 2

LordByron.8369:

Well people didn t notice the vertical progression they sneaked in the game silently _

Its called Agony Resistance that now is infinite.

In the perfect style of korean mmorpg you can combine AR to get an infinite numbers exactly how it happened for +1, +2, +3 weapons.

Its already an issue for any player wanting to play fotm 50 ._.

and it could be worse soon.

If that is the future of ascended i think this game will become the usual f2p korean grindy mmorpg very soon.

haha true true. Actually i did notice that but because i have always opted not to go “all the way” in fractals, its not big on my list. but yeah, thanks for pointing that out

“LFP <Dungeon> full ascended only”

Option A. Option B ( resetting the progress via level cap ) would make me and a good portion of the player base quit.
I like the work I put into a game to mean something. That is the reason I chose GW1 over WOW when I got into the MMO scene. Because with WoW’s expansion + new tier of gear system everything you work for is rendered null and void every year or so when a new expansion comes out.

Personally I value my time – I like to feel that I’m building something and would be incredibly frustrated and angry if someone wiped all of my progress arbitrarily.

That’s how I feel – that’s why I chose GW1 and that’s why I still play GW2. I can forgive one " Ascended " situation – but this sort of thing has to stop.

Supreme.4051:

“LFP <Dungeon> full ascended only”

Well Easily answered with yes, there is no inspection in this game

I remember when they first introduced ascendant equip, and when I saw just how much grind I needed to make backpack, I was considering quitting game. And I also remember part of reason why they introduced it.
There were masses of people complaining how they got to 80, got geared up and they didn’t know what to do next. It was mostly WoW minded bots who got used to gear progression.
Just this morning I crafted my second ascendant weapon and it costed me about 40g and lots of grinding materials. So for those who don’t know just how much 40g is in GW2 world, I’d say I never played game that charged me this much for one piece of equipment.
Now before introduction of ascendant gear, I thought GW2 had best gear system of all time. Not only u had option to get equipment on numerous ways (dungeons, karma, crafting, drops, from tp, wvw…) but also u had plenty of looks to choose from. Exotic is in my opinion the best possible gear system of all times.
It was easy to access, it wasn’t boring because u could get it on different ways. It was so great I geared 7 alts fully exotic, and my main had 4 different sets. It was great for experimenting builds.
Ascendant killed all of that. No more experimenting, no more easy relaxing game play. U enter in bot mode and go grind champions. 40g for one weapon + grind materials for one weapon is insane. For same amount i could equip 2 characters with exotics.

I play gw2 mostly to check new updates now. I’m also disappointed with content updates. Last 4 updates included:
- halloween ( same exact event from last year) – no new content
- toxic – one event content
- toxic 2 – 5 minute dungeon content
- fractal – one new fractal
8 weeks we had one event, one mini dungeon and one fractal. They are masking content in achievement check box and gear progression. I hope things get better cause I enjoyed this game year ago.

In its current state it’s unlikely that GW2 will be around in 2015. If it is it will be a completely different game.

In 2014 and beyond I see tiers beyond ascended. I am convinced there will be tiers beyond ascended. I have a feeling that is it profitable for them to do so. It costs very little to produce and must generate quite a lot of revenue.

Duncanmix.5238:

There were masses of people complaining how they got to 80, got geared up and they didn’t know what to do next. It was mostly WoW minded bots who got used to gear progression. .

Your memory is not good as you may think…
There were really few topics (2-3 in months)….even less than those complaining about dungeon being too easy…

Aknowledging a lack of endgame is different from asking vertical progression…

Duncanmix.5238:

…Now before introduction of ascendant gear, I thought GW2 had best gear system of all time. Not only u had option to get equipment on numerous ways (dungeons, karma, crafting, drops, from tp, wvw…) but also u had plenty of looks to choose from. Exotic is in my opinion the best possible gear system of all times.
It was easy to access, it wasn’t boring because u could get it on different ways. It was so great I geared 7 alts fully exotic, and my main had 4 different sets. It was great for experimenting builds.

for what its worth, this was what i thought too in those early days. I actually recall i was impatient enough to try new characters and just couldnt wait to test out builds for them. Gearing for BiS was so not an issue that such things was fun.

Ascended backpiece, when i saw what was needed, seemed to be the only thing of annoyance in terms of grind at the time but stats was small and it was for just one item.

The next step is to turn the gear grind into a gear treadmill by raising the level cap. We can all hope otherwise.

The problem i see with ascended armor is the gw fan base, ofc there are new players who have never played gw1 but a lot of the fan base is from the original game,
i know the devs are trying something new with regards to gw but they stand to lose some of the fan base ( and already have).

There always was the us v them with regards to wow and the comparison between both games, friends who played with me in gw1 are few now, so many have already quit, ill bet most who played the original gw1 players have similar a similar experience.

Why the wow reference? well we all know wow is a gear progression game and we could argue possibly the best at that sort of thing, now im not saying everyone who is a fan of the original game quit over the gear progression, but i know a lot of my friends did, some with comments like “If i wanted gear progression, id play wow”

With the new wow expansion looming and players leveling to 100, players will return and on hitting 100 like everyone else be starting with the same gear, gw2 on the other hand will require players to have been playing some time to be able to obtain the new gear for their main characters never mind alts, its this wow type grind some gw fans don’t really like, we don’t have the holy trinity but are getting closer to the wow type game.

Do the devs think wow is the better game? is the gear progression a good idea?
I love gw thou i played wow a long time also, not wanting to be feeling left behind and have to start all over again gear wise on all characters, god knows how long a grind that will be, idk if i want to tbh, “If i wanted gear progression, id play wow”
maybe i will.

LordByron.8369:

Duncanmix.5238:

There were masses of people complaining how they got to 80, got geared up and they didn’t know what to do next. It was mostly WoW minded bots who got used to gear progression. .

Your memory is not good as you may think…
There were really few topics (2-3 in months)….even less than those complaining about dungeon being too easy…

Aknowledging a lack of endgame is different from asking vertical progression…

No my memory is good. I remember it was not only on this forum, but guru as well. Almost every time there was some negative post in early days, and people go on about quitting I would notice few people would complain about exactly what I said. They simply looked for that magical “end game” which in their mind is grind for equip or some sort of progression of character. And this was in early stage of game, there was lots of content out and game was fresh.
For many people that is simply end game content, grind for gear and its sad and pathetic, but whats more pathetic is anet actually giving in to those kind of ideas.

Not looking forward to ascended armour.

Might be the final nail in the coffin for me… they had a good thing going and had to screw with it.

aspirine.6852:

Supreme.4051:

“LFP <Dungeon> full ascended only”

Well Easily answered with yes, there is no inspection in this game

“LFM <dungeon> beserker asc only, PING GEAR”

I’ve already stopped spending money on the game in anticipation of that inevitable state, the moment I see that LFG I uninstall…then again I play like once a month for 5mins now…might as well not be playing the game anyway.

I’m sorry but for months the game has just been getting more and more boring (from LS to exploit-filled-skip-all-the-things-stackfest dungeons to champion trains to event trains…just too much head shaking for one person) and there are at any given time ten things better worth my time. Now with ascended gear there will be hundreds of things better worth my time-including games where I actually have fun rather than grinding for months in the hopes that I might have fun. Hmm, play a fighting /strategy/rpg/action game for 3 months where every round/match/dungeon/level is fun by its own merit…or play one game filled with an immature, elitist community and grind-do boring tasks ad nauseam for 3 months to get higher numbers so I can play with and how (zerker only right?) said immature elitists want and grind the same bloody things with those people for another 9 months…..I’m no masochist -__-.

Yeah you ‘hardcore’ young gamers go be ‘hardcore’… meanwhile I’ll be ‘efficient’ with my time (oh the irony) and having fun.

As for asc gear…well once the people who want the gear treadmill have it and everyone else leaves the game will be just like every other mmorpg-that’s what I think anyway. I also imagine the next tier of gear will be in the first expansion. I also think the difficulty level of mobs will be raised soon otherwise I don’t quite see the point in releasing more powerful gear than the content-and with no news of an expansion…yeah….it’s just a huge mess I don’t want to deal with.

Biggest problem with ascended gear is that typically you have to craft it. And I mean YOU have to craft it. You can’t buy it. You can’t get it from WvW or Pvp drops easily.
You can’t win a piece consistently in a dungeon or fractal run.

It forces a style of gameplay that many consider is akin to running your fingernails on a chalkboard while listening to your mother in law.

byjiang.1260:

You are assuming this game has a future beyond 2015.

This.

I expect we see GW3 around that time.

GW3 is most likely under development already, it’s pretty clear that the current amount of “content” we are getting in form of Living World updates doesn’t require all 300+ employees ArenaNet has since most of the Living World stuff is rehashed old stuff. They have most likely something like 50 people handling GW2 and rest are already working on next MMO title since ArenaNet has said they won’t release GW2 expansion.

I think we should wait and see what happens. For me, power-creep is a non issue since I don’t do PvP. It doesn’t matter to me what gear other people have because I play in PvE environments. New players coming in that are PvE oriented will likely find that they have nothing to worry about. Likewise, sPvP would be uneffected because the gear is differentiated in that environment.

The only game environment that I can see being heavily impacted by ascended armor power-creep is WvW. I don’t know how to fix that, but I’m honestly not concerned, either, because I don’t play there.

Imbune.5497:

aspirine.6852:

Supreme.4051:

“LFP <Dungeon> full ascended only”

Well Easily answered with yes, there is no inspection in this game

“LFM <dungeon> beserker asc only, PING GEAR”
.

Ah kitten I didnt know that. I avoid these looking for group things like the plague

aspirine.6852:

Imbune.5497:

aspirine.6852:

Supreme.4051:

“LFP <Dungeon> full ascended only”

Well Easily answered with yes, there is no inspection in this game

“LFM <dungeon> beserker asc only, PING GEAR”
.

Ah kitten I didnt know that. I avoid these looking for group things like the plague

don’t worry- just make a group and say LFG- all levels and experience- will stop for cutscenes. \
I guarantee Ascended nonsense won’t be a problem then
but yes I avoid it too

This issue will be solved by an increased level caps, which will effectively reset gear.

You don’t need to go with either option.

They said they’ll ‘evolve’ existing tiers, implying its either some sort of weapon levelling system or allow you to add effects to your items.

I prefer making ascended weapons the last tier, period. No level cap increase either.

Add new skills and increase the amount of skill points/effort needed to acquire new skills (i.e. 25 skill points, skills locked to title tiers, etc.)

aspirine.6852:

Supreme.4051:

“LFP <Dungeon> full ascended only”

Well Easily answered with yes, there is no inspection in this game

Made me lol , people are required to “ping” their gear in party when entered if asked or else expect to be removed from set party. This is the inspection and yes its in the game since ever ? jeez

1. too.

I’ve played WoW and I was a hardcore raider and grinder. I always, always quit at the beginning of every new expansion frustrated seeing all my hard earned purples going to waste.

I’d join, unwillingly, a few months later because my friends were still playing it.

This is one of the greatest selling points of GW2 to me, I farmed my exotics about a month or two after the release and they’re still greatly useful till this day (though they’re going behind now with these Ascended stuff).

Lopez.7369:

This issue will be solved by an increased level caps, which will effectively reset gear.

Increasing level caps does not solve problems introduced by vertical gear progression. In fact, it is part of those problems itself.

aop.6052:

byjiang.1260:

You are assuming this game has a future beyond 2015.

This.

I expect we see GW3 around that time.

GW3 is most likely under development already, it’s pretty clear that the current amount of “content” we are getting in form of Living World updates doesn’t require all 300+ employees ArenaNet has since most of the Living World stuff is rehashed old stuff. They have most likely something like 50 people handling GW2 and rest are already working on next MMO title since ArenaNet has said they won’t release GW2 expansion.

I know right? Isnt it strange they`ve got 300 employees for gw2 and for gw1 they had 50 but the quantity of content is so smaller and slower than gw1?? They either preparing huge changes such as an x-pac which is very likely to happened or they making a Gw3… or the bad scenario is that they are simply slow and there`s nothing exiting coming…

The grand irony of the situation is that if there weren’t any ascended gear at all, there wouldn’t be an “issue” that needs solving.

The only bright side to next year and beyond is that they’ve officially run out of things to make stupid ascended versions of. Well, except aqua breathers.

Some people really enjoy acquiring new and more powerful gear, and some people don’t. The problem is that the people who do can get that satisfaction from literally any other MMO, whereas the people who don’t came here hoping they wouldn’t have to endure that thinly-veiled hamster wheel tactic to keep them playing.

I always hoped that Ascended weapon and armor are saved for future Mursaat attacks on Tyria

Nar.8327:

The grand irony of the situation is that if there weren’t any ascended gear at all, there wouldn’t be an “issue” that needs solving.

The only bright side to next year and beyond is that they’ve officially run out of things to make stupid ascended versions of. Well, except aqua breathers.

Some people really enjoy acquiring new and more powerful gear, and some people don’t. The problem is that the people who do can get that satisfaction from literally any other MMO, whereas the people who don’t came here hoping they wouldn’t have to endure that thinly-veiled hamster wheel tactic to keep them playing.

The problem is that how many people belong to the latter? There’s a lot of niches you can go with but not all of them will support a 300-man dev team or a MMO at all.

Look at TSW for example. Its got a nice niche of being set in the real world with all its skins, weapons, and design based around that. That didn’t attract a lot of players.

Looking at the designs of earlier zones vs Transylvania (the later zone), you can tell the design philosophy changed. Its the same with GW2. It started off with the endgame being entirely based on chasing after cosmetics, but then that didn’t work out, so they added some form of vertical progression.

Also, have you ever considered there might be a group in the middle of the 2 you mentioned, who likes to get more powerful gear but not being forced to get it to experience new content?

As for power-creep, I’m not overly concerned for WvW. With Ascended armor, if you fight in say, a 3v3, it might make a difference, but WvW is really about massive zerg vs zerg clashes, where no matter what armor you have, one wrong step and you get hit by 50 AoEs at once, and no matter how high your stats are, you aren’t going to change the tide of the battle alone.

Nar.8327:

The only bright side to next year and beyond is that they’ve officially run out of things to make stupid ascended versions of. Well, except aqua breathers.

We still have sigils, runes, infusions, and consumables that can have higher tiers added. Since we’re only on rare infusions, all of that could take next year to implement and have the players grind through.

They’ve also been pretty clear that they expect to raise level cap at some point, even if it’s not in the near future.

ArenaNet has been very clear that they intend to maintain a steady vertical progression, which they qualify by saying it will be slow and shallow. The statement that Ascended will be the last tier means nothing. There’s plenty of room to keep us chasing carrots for the life of the game without adding more tiers.