Guild Wars 2

I started gw2 perhaps just over 6 months ago and It feels like all we do in is grind, maybe it is fine for peeps who got gw2 when it was released?

Most peeps want decent armor and weapons, this is before you consider ascended trinkets, back piece and rings, then getting infused, if you add up the time the laurels take to get these and then the infusion and mats, its quite the grind in itself.

Now we are onto ascended weapons and leveling crafting, this is costly and you have to grind like mad for the mats and gold to be able to level crafting, then you have to make said weapon.

Next its onto ascended armor, again the grind to level more crafting and again the mats and gold required and the grind that goes with it.

I don’t want to be left behind and i am sure others feel that way too, on my main character i have got all the ascended trinkets and rings infused where appropriate, as yet have no ascended weapon ( grinding for it atm)

Now we are onto ascended armor and i still have the weapon grinding, will the grind ever stop?

All this and i would like a legendary, thou i don’t see me ever getting one, i have given up any hope of ever getting one like many other peeps, as i just do not have the gold or enough hours in the day to grind for that also.

Really Devs enough with the grind, let the peeps who didn’t get gw2 on release day have a chance to catch up, will you? please, pretty please with sugar on top.

It is all grind, people dont like to call it grind because its different from other MMO’s, but its all work anyway you look at it.

yeah welcome to mmorpgs. thats what they kinda are. (and gw2 is the least grindiest of them all)

welcome to grind wars.

there wasn’t enough end game material when the game first got released so the dev decided to add all these ascended gear grind so players have something to play for. obviously it wasn’t very well thought out and only got added because players were getting bored and leaving the game.

Some players insisted on vertical progression in items, which wasn’t part of the original game design. So the Devs added it and but made it a grind. If you don’t like the grind then maybe you should reconsider your instance on vertical progression.

There are lots of players who don’t bother with it because it’s a grind or are willing to let it come naturally rather than specifically grinding. Each there own.

You cant play a game for hundreds or thousands of hours unless they add a grind.

Locuz.2651:

You cant play a game for hundreds or thousands of hours unless they add a grind.

My 3,852 hours spent in GW1 beg to differ.

Until playable content development becomes as easy to program as thinking what you want, MMO’s will always feature repetitive play focused around obtaining some “reward.” Get used to it.

Been here two months, have maybe spent a handful of hours grinding a couple of things I wanted to.

Grind is self-imposed.

It depends on your goals. IF you want best in gear, best in class, tailored look and feel, titles, then yeah, grind away. Otherwise, being a conformist is the way to go.

This is one think about GW2, it is of a somewhat open ended book/world, where you can write/explore what you want. I think this is fine. You can always spend some $$$ to ease the grind. This depends on your budget… $20 a month, etc…

Locuz.2651:

You cant play a game for hundreds or thousands of hours unless they add a grind.

I played Skyrim for nearly 250 hours, still haven’t played the last expansion, and have only played on one class. It can be done. There’s grind and then there’s ridiculous grind. Ascended is ridiculous and the meager stat gain and ugly skin does not justify the cost in time and gold. Personally, I’ll stick to working toward a legendary. Which is a grind, but feels like less of a grind because you need so much almost every contributes and things that don’t can be sold for gold to buy things that contribute. And, I have the attitude that if I get one great, if I don’t so what.

What is grind?

I need to make sure we’re talking about the same thing.

Yenn.9185:

What is grind?

I need to make sure we’re talking about the same thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinding_%28video_gaming%29

Grind is when you need to do something you don’t like to get the thing you want. It could be gold, XP, items, mats, 10 rat quests, etc. And that’s the problem, everyone defines it differently because everyone’s goal playing is different.

The devs put out a bunch of carrots to steer players into certain activities to keep them busy much the way you have a scavenger hunt for a child’s birthday party. You can try to do some of them, all of them or none of them, that’s up to you. You have to decide if the carrot is worth the “grind” of doing X of whatever or X different things.

Behellagh.1468:

Grind is when you need to do something you don’t like to get the thing you want.

That definition is probably better than the wiki one. Doing repetitive tasks that you enjoy doesn’t make it a grind.

The problem is the way people play. Some wanna invest hours and effort to achieve something, and the other simply just wanna play casually. But both of them wants the same thing. The “casual” player thinks it’s a grind, the “hardcore” player thinks it’s an achievement that he worked for.

jmoak.7821:

yeah welcome to mmorpgs. thats what they kinda are. (and gw2 is the least grindiest of them all)

Its not actually, as has been stated in threads dealing with this issue before its actually now far more grindy than most other western mmos (eg. WoW and SWTOR) if you want BiS and its made far worse by ascended armor.

If they don’t add in any more tiers of gear, it’s not TOO big a deal. I mean, yes, it’s a bit dishonest to their “Manifesto” (what isn’t?), but the difference between Exotics and Ascended is only about 5%. Hardly enough to make much difference in the PVE content of this game, which isn’t that hard.

Maybe if you’re wanting to do level 30+ fractals it would eventually become a big deal (unless you’re a Warrior, Guardian, or Mesmer, who will probably be welcome no matter what). The only thing you really need is the AR, and a little of that can go a long way, so I’m told.

At least other MMOs add new content when they add new gear-grinds.

For every set of gear in WoW, there was a new raid-instance. Same applied to SWTOR and most other classic MMOs.

But now GW2 adds Ascended Armor….just because?

It’s not tied to content progression (unless you count endless fractals) and it doesn’t enhance the game in any way. It’s just there….another grind on top of countless other grinds before it.

It’s totally pointless.

Nothing new, nothing exciting, no context whatsoever.

Just “here’s another 5% stat-increase you can dump your gold into”.

It’s just dumb, so incredibly dumb.

ascended gear was added to the game simply to rectify ANET’s own mistake in estimating how long the players could get the exotics, which turns out to be very fast….

so yeah, it’s their mistake; we had to grind…

I do believe gw2 is less grindy than many regular mmos, but its still much too grindy for people who came here in hopes of escaping the grind.

generalraccoon.3857:

I do believe gw2 is less grindy than many regular mmos, but its still much too grindy for people who came here in hopes of escaping the grind.

That’s just silly. You can play for years in this game literally without having to grind a single thing.

Threads like these are all about people who lack the self-control to prevent themselves from spending tons of times getting things they don’t need, then complain that they spend time getting things they don’t need.

With the possible exception of high-level fractals, there’s not a single part of this game you need to grind gear for. And that’s a lot better than most games.

I’ve played a lot of MMOs over the years and the grindiest one I played the longest was EQ1. After that I burnt out on that level of hardcore grinding and immediately stopped playing other grindy MMOs.

I like variance and I’m not real tolerant toward repetitiveness. It’s just part of my nature. It’s why I have a strong preference for “sandbox” elements and world-building tools given to the player. I find building and creating to be fun. That’s just me, though.

As it stands, I’ve grinded Artifice and Tailor to 500, made an ascended weapon and now working on the time-gated materials of the ascended leggings. That will be finished Thursday night. With the advent into ascended armor, I realized I was no longer having fun. All I do when I log in is run champ trains and do my daily everyday after I complete Living Story stuff. I try to cycle it to break down on the repetitive nature, but the realization is there that I don’t find what I’ve been doing to obtain what I want worth my time anymore. When I finish the leggings, I’m going to take a break and won’t be back until the next Living Story update, then I’ll see what Anet has planned for the coming year.

I’m realizing the current style of game play isn’t fun for me. I won’t knock people who don’t mind it and find it fun, though.

Dee Jay.2460:

At least other MMOs add new content when they add new gear-grinds.

For every set of gear in WoW, there was a new raid-instance. Same applied to SWTOR and most other classic MMOs.

But now GW2 adds Ascended Armor….just because?

It’s not tied to content progression (unless you count endless fractals) and it doesn’t enhance the game in any way. It’s just there….another grind on top of countless other grinds before it.

It’s totally pointless.

Nothing new, nothing exciting, no context whatsoever.

Just “here’s another 5% stat-increase you can dump your gold into”.

It’s just dumb, so incredibly dumb.

You really want to know what is totally pointless. Paying full price for WOW but only getting pits and pieces of the actual game. Then you wait month even years for bread chrome patch while you GRIND your life away for gear that is use to gear to grind for more gear.

Qaelyn.7612:

generalraccoon.3857:

I do believe gw2 is less grindy than many regular mmos, but its still much too grindy for people who came here in hopes of escaping the grind.

That’s just silly. You can play for years in this game literally without having to grind a single thing.

Threads like these are all about people who lack the self-control to prevent themselves from spending tons of times getting things they don’t need, then complain that they spend time getting things they don’t need.

With the possible exception of high-level fractals, there’s not a single part of this game you need to grind gear for. And that’s a lot better than most games.

Probably. if im that good. so good that i run anything on much lower tier gear (or none). but im not. yea i lack the needed reflex skills or such,,so i need better gear to compensate. i read once tht even exotics (dungeon token ones) was a grind to get the whole set for some (i dont really think so but.. i can understand if others feel tht way.. )also i do believe some came here with the expressed hope of getting BiS gear, regardless of need , without the dreaded grind.

anyhow …my point being that it is a matter of perspective.

what ur saying there… feels like ur trying to force your values/perceptions on me.

mesme.5028:

I started gw2 perhaps just over 6 months ago and It feels like all we do in is grind, maybe it is fine for peeps who got gw2 when it was released?

Most peeps want decent armor and weapons, this is before you consider ascended trinkets, back piece and rings, then getting infused, if you add up the time the laurels take to get these and then the infusion and mats, its quite the grind in itself.

Now we are onto ascended weapons and leveling crafting, this is costly and you have to grind like mad for the mats and gold to be able to level crafting, then you have to make said weapon.

Next its onto ascended armor, again the grind to level more crafting and again the mats and gold required and the grind that goes with it.

I don’t want to be left behind and i am sure others feel that way too, on my main character i have got all the ascended trinkets and rings infused where appropriate, as yet have no ascended weapon ( grinding for it atm)

Now we are onto ascended armor and i still have the weapon grinding, will the grind ever stop?

All this and i would like a legendary, thou i don’t see me ever getting one, i have given up any hope of ever getting one like many other peeps, as i just do not have the gold or enough hours in the day to grind for that also.

Really Devs enough with the grind, let the peeps who didn’t get gw2 on release day have a chance to catch up, will you? please, pretty please with sugar on top.

Name one MMO where you can have everything you want, right away? Yeah, there’s not an MMO like that.

and gw2 is the one of the most grindiest of them all

cough

Qaelyn.7612:

That’s just silly. You can play for years in this game literally without having to grind a single thing.

That statement means nothing you can play WoW and SWTOR for years without grinding if you really want.

Guild Wars 2 is not a grind. At all. People only think it’s a grind is because they’re the kind of people who always want to have the best stuff as soon as possible. All the grind that everyone talks about in GW2 is self-inflicted/self-imposed. It’s only a grind if you make it a grind

If you want something that you really like (Ie: Legendaries), you got to work for it. Personally, I don’t think any game forces you to “grind”, but if you want to be the best and acquire the best, well… you have to work. I took my time to level, avoided crafting until I managed to get most of the mats (cough cough still not lvl400 yet), and relied on getting my gear from drops. It is much easier to earn gold now and easier to get yellow (rare) gear just by killing a few champs/world boss. Most of my characters’ gear are greens or yellows. To be honest, rares or exotics are good enough to survive, unless you like the skin for ascended/legendary or doing high level factals. The difference of stats between ascended and exotics are not much. I’m taking my time to get my exotics for my toons (via loot). Only 3 so far in the whole game! Eeeeek! Who said it was easy to get? :P

Grind is a mindspace. If you think/believe you need ascended armor, you’ll feel you have to grind for ascended armor. Most of the game, practically all of it (probably all of it) can be completely without any ascended armor at all. I’m in no rush to get ascended armor.

Some with a legendary. No one needs one, but if you want one bad enough, you’ll grind for it.

But the grind isn’t mandatory. Want to run a dungeon, you can do it in rares. Gear means less in this game than most others.

The only exception to this is high level fractals….and I mean like top level. I’m pretty sure only a small percentage of the community does that though.

You will need to be playing normally over 1 year for a full set of armor and weapons. Probably over 2 years for a legendary weapon. That is the design. That is normal. Just do it slowly and steadily. What’s the rush? If you want it all now, well you’ll have to earn what people earn in space of one year in a few days/weeks. That’s why you feel it’s a grind.

As a few have already said if you want to do high level fracts you do need the gear for it,
i do enjoy fracts and atm have only 35 agony resist, i can do up till 40 quite successfully thou not higher, friends do higher than i can realistically go, so yes the gear is important to me, as if friends do high level fracts, i cant go and wait on them finishing.

I just don’t have the gold or mats i need to allow me to do the content i want to do, so while some say you don’t need to grind, you do if you want to do fracts at a decent level and play with your friends.

If i was just logging in and farming chaps or doing only dungeons then fine no real grind is required, but if you want the same items as others and don’t want to feel that your character could be better and you would be of more value in a group then you have no choice.

My take:

The game came out and was far more successful than anticipated, with tons of sales. Anet saw the dollar signs and decided to change the game away from what they originally designed (low grind, easy to get top level gear, horizontal progression) into a more traditional MMO — in order to keep these customers.

So we ended up with a game that was designed one way, but supported after release in a completely different way.

In the end, those who came for the original game were turned off, and those who want
a traditional MMO will surely leave when a new traditional MMO, one designed to be such from the bottom up, comes out.

Lord Kuru.3685:

My take:

The game came out and was far more successful than anticipated, with tons of sales. Anet saw the dollar signs and decided to change the game away from what they originally designed (low grind, easy to get top level gear, horizontal progression) into a more traditional MMO — in order to keep these customers.

So we ended up with a game that was designed one way, but supported after release in a completely different way.

In the end, those who came for the original game were turned off, and those who want
a traditional MMO will surely leave when a new traditional MMO, one designed to be such from the bottom up, comes out.

That doesn’t make any logical sense. A large amount of sales right out the gate would tell them to stay the course, not the other way around.

Lord Kuru.3685:

My take:

The game came out and was far more successful than anticipated, with tons of sales. Anet saw the dollar signs and decided to change the game away from what they originally designed (low grind, easy to get top level gear, horizontal progression) into a more traditional MMO — in order to keep these customers.

So we ended up with a game that was designed one way, but supported after release in a completely different way.

In the end, those who came for the original game were turned off, and those who want
a traditional MMO will surely leave when a new traditional MMO, one designed to be such from the bottom up, comes out.

I don’t buy that at all. I think more likely. the population dropped far faster than they expected. They saw tons of sales and then saw tons of people who stopped playing. That seems to me far more likely.

Because if you’re doing really well, you don’t change what you’re doing. That’s a risk. You only take a risk when you’re not doing well.

Phy.2913:

Lord Kuru.3685:

My take:

The game came out and was far more successful than anticipated, with tons of sales. Anet saw the dollar signs and decided to change the game away from what they originally designed (low grind, easy to get top level gear, horizontal progression) into a more traditional MMO — in order to keep these customers.

So we ended up with a game that was designed one way, but supported after release in a completely different way.

In the end, those who came for the original game were turned off, and those who want
a traditional MMO will surely leave when a new traditional MMO, one designed to be such from the bottom up, comes out.

That doesn’t make any logical sense. A large amount of sales right out the gate would tell them to stay the course, not the other way around.

Yeah.. I tried to shorten my post, but perhaps too much. What I meant was that Anet intended for a far smaller customer base of casual/non-grinders, but instead got an enormous number of customers who were not of that base. Anet tried to keep all these customers despite the fact that their game was not designed for them.

IMO, this was a terrible mistake on Anet’s part (with the focus on sPvP instead of WvW a close second).

i think that Anet launched the game with that starting idea that “GW2 could be different from other mmo’s” meaning that they could implement new gameplay dynamics avoiding grinding.
dynamic events, living story, world bosses.
but all turned to farming/grinding. even the smallest event turns to: "pick Xgems, convert to Y, search Z….for 30000000000000000000000times.

what they found is that the enormous zombie swarms of people coming from other mmo, who became a large percentage of total gw2 player, just don’t ask for more story or quests or dungeons. just needed more grind.
and that reward for grind couldn’t be just a skin or a gizmo or accessories.
it had to be armor, weapons, etc: had to give them a tangible advantage in combat.
repeat 300time same dungeon was too much for a new dye or weapon skin.
they instead would happily play 300hrs to get a better armor, and to make themselves “clearly better” than the casual player who doesn’t want or simply can’t spend his own life on the pc.

mmo philosophy says that: “if you play more and more, you deserve a better armor/weapon/title/skin/portrait/pet etc etc etc, against n00bs or casuals who just play 10hrs a week. if they want to improve, just grind more.”

i hoped until the very last weeks a step back, but nothing…
this change of direction, form casual oriented to a more “pro-nerd-farmer/grinder” one, shows me that it’s time to….change game

jmoak.7821:

yeah welcome to mmorpgs. thats what they kinda are. (and gw2 is the least grindiest of them all)

Not true.
The biggest difference between GW2 and every other MMO is the lack of new contents to grind for.

@OP:

I agree with you, this is a very grindy game. Much of it is not needed but thanks to the human psychy, we feel compelled to do it. We feel compelled to chase that carrot and get the absolute best gear we can, not because we need it because we want it. I feel that devs prey on this compulsion.

Some people can get by without doing the grind, and to them I salute. But for us lemmings, it is not so easy. Shrugging this concern off as a “Well thats your problem, you don’t need it in GW2” is naive and shortsighted. I dont need raid gear in WoW to run dungeons, dallies, explore the world, level up crafts, etc… but I raided because I wanted it. I don’t need ascended gear in GW2 to run dungeons, open world content, level up crafts, etc…but I want it. The only difference between the GW2 grind and a WoW grind for BiS gear is that in WoW, I am EARNING my keep by defeating difficult bosses and encounters, spending weeks wiping and learning fights and finally getting the drops I need vs GW2 where I sit in the sea of name tags and fire my lasers at Jormag, SB, Dwayna, etc. Run farming routes in Orr for high level mats…dungeon grind. All of these are quasi trivial when compared to the requirement in WoW where you need team work and skill to defeat boss encounters for BiS loot. In GW2, all I need is time and a lot of players on the map so I can get lost in the sea of people.

BiS gear in GW2 requires no skill. Just time or massive income.

This is where I think we go wrong here.

However, again, you dont need it….yet. I will probably pass on ascended armor once I get my weapons because the gap is minimal. Once ascended upgrades are introduced to the game, thats when I contemplate a graceful exit.

Everyone’s opinion of how ‘grindy’ the game is will vary. Why? Because we’re all different. We enjoy different things. What one person calls ‘grind’ another may call ‘fun.’

For Example:
To me, running the same dungeon again and again is boring and grindy, yet for my guildie, it’s her ideal day. She did CM like a dozen times yesterday, and loved every minute of it. Me on the other hand, I’ll do a run of story mode, and then 1 of each path and that’s it for me.
End Example

GW2 is not grindy to me. I played WoW for 7 or so months before GW2 released, and after having played that, I don’t find GW2 grindy at all. However, I play a little differently now as well. I am much more laid back, and simply don’t do things I don’t enjoy doing, which probably helps immensely.

Yes, ascended does strike me as quite a bit of work. Yeah, it would become a grind if that was my main goal and that’s what I set my mind on achieving asap, but then it’s a self imposed grind that I chose to undertake. I am making the choice to do it. I am not being forced by anyone except myself, and I can stop at any point.

Such “self imposed grind” for a “want” that is not a “necessity” means the person making the choice really has no one to whine at, except themself, for making that choice. (And let’s face it folks, ascended armor and weapons are not necessities, even in WvW)

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

(And let’s face it folks, ascended armor and weapons are not necessities, even in WvW)

Ascended gear, especially weapons do make a difference in WvW. Just the damage numbers from weapons make a HUGE difference if you have zerker gear; power, crit chance, and crit damage come together to make seemingly small numbers quite significant.

In PvE these numbers add up even more as full zerker gear is much more prevalent.

Here’s an interesting thought:

A group that does more damage due to Ascended gear finishes dungeons faster, so does more dungeon runs, and thus makes more gold than they did when they wore exotics. So more gold is entering the economy than before, raising prices in the TP. But that gold is not uniformly distributed. Those with Ascended get more of it, so those with exotics are left with rising prices, but the same income as before. Of course this is rough and theoretical, but I think it’s something to think about.

Lord Kuru.3685:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

(And let’s face it folks, ascended armor and weapons are not necessities, even in WvW)

Ascended gear, especially weapons do make a difference in WvW. Just the damage numbers from weapons make a HUGE difference if you have zerker gear; power, crit chance, and crit damage come together to make seemingly small numbers quite significant.

In PvE these numbers add up even more as full zerker gear is much more prevalent.

Here’s an interesting thought:

A group that does more damage due to Ascended gear finishes dungeons faster, so does more dungeon runs, and thus makes more gold than they did when they wore exotics. So more gold is entering the economy than before, raising prices in the TP. But that gold is not uniformly distributed. Those with Ascended get more of it, so those with exotics are left with rising prices, but the same income as before. Of course this is rough and theoretical, but I think it’s something to think about.

I did not say that they did not make a ‘difference.’ I said they are not necessities. There is a difference.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lord Kuru.3685:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

(And let’s face it folks, ascended armor and weapons are not necessities, even in WvW)

Ascended gear, especially weapons do make a difference in WvW. Just the damage numbers from weapons make a HUGE difference if you have zerker gear; power, crit chance, and crit damage come together to make seemingly small numbers quite significant.

In PvE these numbers add up even more as full zerker gear is much more prevalent.

Here’s an interesting thought:

A group that does more damage due to Ascended gear finishes dungeons faster, so does more dungeon runs, and thus makes more gold than they did when they wore exotics. So more gold is entering the economy than before, raising prices in the TP. But that gold is not uniformly distributed. Those with Ascended get more of it, so those with exotics are left with rising prices, but the same income as before. Of course this is rough and theoretical, but I think it’s something to think about.

I did not say that they did not make a ‘difference.’ I said they are not necessities. There is a difference.

If you’re falling behind gold-wise or are far underpowered in WvW, it gets closer to being a necessity.

Lord Kuru.3685:

If you’re falling behind gold-wise or are far underpowered in WvW, it gets closer to being a necessity.

In the zerg, you aren’t going to notice the difference. You’re just going to roll through like you always do.

In small group play, its not about the armor. Just because you can do more damage, does not mean you will. It does not guarantee the win. Sure, it helps, but it alone will not be the deciding factor. A well coordinated team in exotics can outmaneuver a team in ascended and still win.

In 1v1 play…. chuckle People in exotics still beat people in ascended. Unlike some other games, the armor gap between exotic to ascended really is not so great, and not the key factor in a fight. It helps, but it will not hold you up.

CMstorm.8679:

. It’s only a grind if Anet makes it a grind

Agreed!

The difference between other mmorpgs and GW2 is that to get gear you pretty much have to work for it all and i dont mean time invested like with gw2. Lets compare WoW and GW2 just for the sake of arguement. I will compare ascended gear and heroic raiding gear since they are both top tier bis gear.

To get ascended rings and a neck at the very least all you have to do is your daily (which isnt hard) and monthly (which also isnt hard). Ascended armor and weapons are both crafted so its just getting the mats that stops you. Now in WoW you have to be part of a guild and a pretty good one at that, you have to raid and deal with certain mechanics. After your guild has everything down and some heroic gear, you show up for your heroic run every week then your pretty much free to do whatever else you want to do.

For a new player in GW2 the grind is horrible, they totally tanked karma gain through dailies and monthlies so you have to event grind, and even then its not worth getting karma unless your going for a legendary or you like the karma skins and can find a server that has the temples. So basically crafting and the AH are the only efficient ways to get exotic gear since i dont even really see anyone looking for dungeon groups anymore.

The most efficient way to do things are usually the most boring and most gringy. If you do it any other way your just falling further behind.

Truly there only as much of a grind that you want and GW2 has the easiest accessibility to grind free game play when you look at other mmorpgs even GW1 has a major grind to it to the point of ppl having bots run there game play for them.

Dee Jay.2460:

At least other MMOs add new content when they add new gear-grinds.

For every set of gear in WoW, there was a new raid-instance. Same applied to SWTOR and most other classic MMOs.

But now GW2 adds Ascended Armor….just because?

It’s not tied to content progression (unless you count endless fractals) and it doesn’t enhance the game in any way. It’s just there….another grind on top of countless other grinds before it.

It’s totally pointless.

Nothing new, nothing exciting, no context whatsoever.

Just “here’s another 5% stat-increase you can dump your gold into”.

It’s just dumb, so incredibly dumb.

Isn’t that the whole point though? That there’s no content gates behind Ascended gear?

I could be reading this the wrong way but it sounds like you want new content to be gates behind Ascended gear so that there’s a point to get it. Im sure that would annoy a lot of players.

I mean, the entirety of video gaming is really rather pointless. The 5% is more or less a thing to mark progress or stat vanity. A thing there for the progressionists and people who likes having ‘better’ gear than everyone else but nothing which is needed or really makes much of a difference anywhere. Think of it like a Rolex watch, you can probably tell the time slightly more accurately or something but it really boils down to being vanity gear.

After 1.5k hours of play on this game I have burned out 3 times so far, stopped playing for a few weeks each time. Tbh I have really enjoyed this game, but expected a lot more of it:
- the personal story compared to gw1 is rubbish and seems to be an afterthought
- the pvp is not rewarding and does not offer anything at all
- some of the systems in this game are archaic at the least (no skin databases, claiming of fortifications in WvW doesn’t allow anything special such as building new pieces, decorating…)

Lord Kuru.3685:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lord Kuru.3685:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

(And let’s face it folks, ascended armor and weapons are not necessities, even in WvW)

Ascended gear, especially weapons do make a difference in WvW. Just the damage numbers from weapons make a HUGE difference if you have zerker gear; power, crit chance, and crit damage come together to make seemingly small numbers quite significant.

In PvE these numbers add up even more as full zerker gear is much more prevalent.

Here’s an interesting thought:

A group that does more damage due to Ascended gear finishes dungeons faster, so does more dungeon runs, and thus makes more gold than they did when they wore exotics. So more gold is entering the economy than before, raising prices in the TP. But that gold is not uniformly distributed. Those with Ascended get more of it, so those with exotics are left with rising prices, but the same income as before. Of course this is rough and theoretical, but I think it’s something to think about.

I did not say that they did not make a ‘difference.’ I said they are not necessities. There is a difference.

If you’re falling behind gold-wise or are far underpowered in WvW, it gets closer to being a necessity.

Not if you don’t play or care about WvW. Or care about running min/max FotM builds to be “optimal”. For instance, I run with level 79 exotic armor because it’s cheaper for me to re-skin repeatedly. Gasp, but you aren’t running level 80, you’re at such a disadvantage. But I don’t care. If I get ganked in WvW it’s usually by a crew versus just me and that outcome is preordained. BIS gear won’t save me when it’s 5 on 1. And if I’m in a middle of a zerg crashing at the walls it doesn’t matter a whole lot there either that I’m not in BIS gear. I’m not proficient enough in PvP style fighting for it to make any difference.

So in my case, why should I bother to grind for BIS when it would make a difference? Legendary weapon, sure but they are cool looking. Who doesn’t want a Greatsword that shows space when you swing it about? But armor for just a few stat points? No reason for me to get it.