Guild Wars 2

AcidicVision.5498:

Well, 40 laurels by just playing the game, and 50 ectos from TP or salvaging rares you get by playing the game.

The only grind I see is the one you put on yourself. You can get your ecto from pent/shelt runs and Plinx over and over again. Ill get mine from fractals, the rehauled AC, and another dungeon or two.

Your way is grind. My way is fun and lends progress to multiple goals. Perception vs. reality is a kitten.

Wait, you think running fractals and dungeons over and over is different from running anything else over and over? They’re both horrible grinds.

i got like 15 ecto last night in 15 min getting rare drops. been getting about 1 blacklion salvage kit a week on my dailys its been nice. to get ecto you farm events for t5 mats and make rare its in master salvage kit them its realy easy and pretty much free mius the cost for thread

Farming materials yourself doesn’t make them free.

Can someone explain to me why these new items cost more than already existing laurel ascended stuff? Are the stats better or what?

Soulmyr.8094:

Can someone explain to me why these new items cost more than already existing laurel ascended stuff? Are the stats better or what?

It is for the Accessory (earring) slots. These are the first items for those slots. You can primarily earn them from guild missions, this is an alternative and more expensive version for people who don’t want to do guild missions.

So…theres another ascended piece coming? The accessory slot? Thats…pretty quick. Only a month after amulets.

Mungrul.9358:

I’ve never had 50 ectos at one time. Running a full stable of alts puts paid to that, and my rare/exotic drop rate isn’t what I’d call generous. I’m more likely to get to 40 laurels before I get 50 ectos.
This new gearing policy of theirs that relies on grind is positively hateful.
I want max gear for peanuts, just the way it was in GW1.
All these eejits insisting that max stats should require grind because that’s how every other MMO does it have spoiled this game.

Ah well, yet another reason to continue not to buy gems.
As long as they continue with this despicable behaviour, I’ll continue to play without giving them a cent of money.
They can pay for me to play.

Well said buddy, the requirements for the new items are downright stupid for anyone that doesn’t like to grind to no tomorrow. Infact, here’s a key quote from the staff found here :“I can’t tell you how many times I played Quest for Glory; the game didn’t give me 25 daily quests I needed to log in and do—I played it multiple times because it was fun!”

Yes, because it sure is “fun” needing to grind dailies for ridiculous amounts of time (30-70 dailies & counting if you can sign in every day.) just to outfit one of my characters with gear that doesn’t put her at a fixed statistical disadvantage.

Chuo.4238:

Aberrant.6749:

EASY way to get ecto’s…

Run CoF

Turn in 30 tokens for level 70 RARE armors (you’ll have enough from each first run on each toon to do this twide)

Salvage

Profi… err… Ectos.

You may now continue on about how getting 50 ecto’s is just too hard…

There might be a valid argument that this would put another step in between you and legendary jewelry… if/when legendary jewelry comes out though… but for now I see no conflict

Right…so run the same dungeon 25-30 times….how fun.

Heres the thing you don’t get, he suggested the fastest way to get them other than spending money at the TP.

YOU DONT HAVE TO run anything repeatedly, but you do have to play the game to get the gear… you could run some random dungeons, maybe do a fractal or two go do some world events kill a dragon or 2…… either way you are granted other ways of making gold to get ecto’s and chances for rare drops. All you have to do is PLAY.

Stop kittening about having to play the kittening game to get something!

AcidicVision.5498:

Well, 40 laurels by just playing the game, and 50 ectos from TP or salvaging rares you get by playing the game.

The only grind I see is the one you put on yourself. You can get your ecto from pent/shelt runs and Plinx over and over again. Ill get mine from fractals, the rehauled AC, and another dungeon or two.

Your way is grind. My way is fun and lends progress to multiple goals. Perception vs. reality is a kitten.

I think the grind he is referring to is the 40 laurels. Basically including a monthly requiring you to invest 30 days in a game and only getting 1 accessory slot?

The necks have no other source other than laurel so I can’t even be rewarded for my skill in the game. I just have to give ANet 30 days of me playing and get a reward.

There should be an option of actually playing the game to earn those rewards faster.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

That’s good news. Although it really makes me wonder how you guys came up with this price as a valid equivalent to a guild mission. I seriously doubt you expect 6 guild missions to be as difficult as acquiring 40 laurels and 50 ecto.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

Just wanted you guys to know that saying something only costs $10 at a shop down the street is a really kitten poor reason for charging $100 at the vending mahine. I thought you weren’t trying to put noob traps into GW2?

Secondly, can you even get the guild commendations if you are a solo or small guild player and thereby locked out of kicking off guild missions?

Wait,
Can someone answer me this: Do the new ascended accesories cost 40 laurels and 50 ectos?
Is this BS true?

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

Ah. So I can grind them for 50 ectos and 40 laurels, or hope for RNG. Thanks for clarifying, but this doesn’t really make me feel any better. I don’t grind enough for RNG to have any significant effect on me. This has got to be the most frustrating way to get tier gear.

I hate required grind. I hate required RNG. Funnily enough, GW had neither. This game is marinated in both. I really need to find a new game.

Jabberwock.9014:

Why’d you even bother putting them in the laurel shop for such a ridiculous sum if you’re just going to be giving them away in guild missions? Do you have any idea how much of an investment 40 laurels is? That’s a whole month! Why would anybody waste precious laurels (not to mention ectos) when they can just run a few guild missions and get them for free? Not that I disagree with putting them in guild missions, but the whole thing seems kind of silly.

I’m assuming because guild missions are also capped. Guild missions can be done only weekly I think?

Chuo.4238:

Ah. So I can grind them for 50 ectos and 40 laurels, or hope for RNG. Thanks for clarifying, but this doesn’t really make me feel any better. I don’t grind enough for RNG to have any significant effect on me. This has got to be the most frustrating way to get tier gear.

I hate required grind. I hate RNG. Funnily enough, GW had neither. This game is marinated in both. I really need to find a new game.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

These ascended items have been so grindy, with the rings being less so until laurels came out.

Backpiece:
Gather 250 T6 mats, 50 ecto and 2 other mystic toilet items to make the backpiece OR gather 1,850 fractal relics (1,350 for the exotic verison + 500 for the gift of ascension).

Rings:
Do 10 lv 10+ fractal dailys which wasn’t overly awful since you had a chance at some decent drops OR get 35 laurels (over a month’s worth of dailys).

Amulets:
30 laurels (about a month’s worth of dailys).

Accessories:
Looks to be either get 12 guild mission commendations + 5g OR get 40 laurels + 50 ecto.

Yeaaaaaaah. “We don’t make grindy games.”

Ursan.7846:

Jabberwock.9014:

Why’d you even bother putting them in the laurel shop for such a ridiculous sum if you’re just going to be giving them away in guild missions? Do you have any idea how much of an investment 40 laurels is? That’s a whole month! Why would anybody waste precious laurels (not to mention ectos) when they can just run a few guild missions and get them for free? Not that I disagree with putting them in guild missions, but the whole thing seems kind of silly.

I’m assuming because guild missions are also capped. Guild missions can be done only weekly I think?

Chuo.4238:

Ah. So I can grind them for 50 ectos and 40 laurels, or hope for RNG. Thanks for clarifying, but this doesn’t really make me feel any better. I don’t grind enough for RNG to have any significant effect on me. This has got to be the most frustrating way to get tier gear.

I hate required grind. I hate RNG. Funnily enough, GW had neither. This game is marinated in both. I really need to find a new game.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

Per type of guild mission I do believe. There are several types of guild missions, so if a guild did 6 of them in one day, they technically could get the gear in one day. Perhaps I am wrong but that is how I took it

My guess is that they are trying to make each Ascendant piece have a primary path and 2ndary paths of attainment. (I.E. Fractals = Rings primary. Laurels = Necks primary Guild missions = Accessories primary).

I think the idea is that there are easier ways to get the gear if you play all aspects of the game, but you have the option of just grinding one type of game play to get the gear at reduced efficiency. Makes sense to me.

I’m guessing this will continue next month with WvW becoming a primary path of some sort of ascendant piece with less efficient 2ndary options.

Sardonia.8196:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

Per type of guild mission I do believe. There are several types of guild missions, so if a guild did 6 of them in one day, they technically could get the gear in one day. Perhaps I am wrong but that is how I took it

The sneak peek articles indicate that you can get 12 per week. I guess we need to wait and see for sure, but I think the sneak peekers get inside information so I take it as fairly reliable.

Afro Dude.8423:

Mungrul.9358:

I’ve never had 50 ectos at one time. Running a full stable of alts puts paid to that, and my rare/exotic drop rate isn’t what I’d call generous. I’m more likely to get to 40 laurels before I get 50 ectos.
This new gearing policy of theirs that relies on grind is positively hateful.
I want max gear for peanuts, just the way it was in GW1.
All these eejits insisting that max stats should require grind because that’s how every other MMO does it have spoiled this game.

Ah well, yet another reason to continue not to buy gems.
As long as they continue with this despicable behaviour, I’ll continue to play without giving them a cent of money.
They can pay for me to play.

Well said buddy, the requirements for the new items are downright stupid for anyone that doesn’t like to grind to no tomorrow. Infact, here’s a key quote from the staff found here :“I can’t tell you how many times I played Quest for Glory; the game didn’t give me 25 daily quests I needed to log in and do—I played it multiple times because it was fun!”

Yes, because it sure is “fun” needing to grind dailies for ridiculous amounts of time (30-70 dailies & counting if you can sign in every day.) just to outfit one of my characters with gear that doesn’t put her at a fixed statistical disadvantage.

Ugh you including that quote hurt me. I re-read the blog post and I remember how excited I was for this game and drank the kool-aid. Now my tummy hurts lol

This game just took a crap in my toilet. and didnt bother to flush.

What the heck is this? Why are you putting a crafting material along side a currency? As if the price of ectos isnt high enough.

This lovely addition will increase demand for ectos, which drives the price up, which drives the possibility of me getting ectos via the TP down. I must rely on RnG via salvaging, or run dungeons till I die to salvage from token gear. Apparently you do not listen to the community when they are telling you the price of a legendary(notice the intentional use of the word PRICE) is skyrocketing, and all you can do is push that further down the road.

And you pay a legit economist for this game?

I dont know whos being ripped off more…me or arenanet.
(expecting this to be deleted and infracted for speaking my mind, which happens to be negative of the game right now. And we can’t have bad press can we? No worries, I have doubts if I’ll be playing this game much longer with questionable design decisions like this)

I dont see why fractals keep getting left out since the rings became abailable; I’d like to get the amulet and accessories by doing fractals sometime soon.

Afro Dude.8423:

Mungrul.9358:

I’ve never had 50 ectos at one time. Running a full stable of alts puts paid to that, and my rare/exotic drop rate isn’t what I’d call generous. I’m more likely to get to 40 laurels before I get 50 ectos.
This new gearing policy of theirs that relies on grind is positively hateful.
I want max gear for peanuts, just the way it was in GW1.
All these eejits insisting that max stats should require grind because that’s how every other MMO does it have spoiled this game.

Ah well, yet another reason to continue not to buy gems.
As long as they continue with this despicable behaviour, I’ll continue to play without giving them a cent of money.
They can pay for me to play.

Well said buddy, the requirements for the new items are downright stupid for anyone that doesn’t like to grind to no tomorrow. Infact, here’s a key quote from the staff found here :“I can’t tell you how many times I played Quest for Glory; the game didn’t give me 25 daily quests I needed to log in and do—I played it multiple times because it was fun!”

Yes, because it sure is “fun” needing to grind dailies for ridiculous amounts of time (30-70 dailies & counting if you can sign in every day.) just to outfit one of my characters with gear that doesn’t put her at a fixed statistical disadvantage.

Please get over yourselves. Ascendant gear has been ridiculously easy to get if you play even semi-regularly. Go play hello kitty if you want a game for 4-year-olds.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Rising Dusk.2408:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

That’s good news. Although it really makes me wonder how you guys came up with this price as a valid equivalent to a guild mission. I seriously doubt you expect 6 guild missions to be as difficult as acquiring 40 laurels and 50 ecto.

It’s partially related to the time it takes. Personal rewards for guild missions can only be claimed once per week per mission category. Therefore if your guild only has guild bounties unlocked, it will take you 6 weeks to claim one of these accessories from the commendation vendor (assuming you don’t spend your commendations on anything else).

Aha! And 6 weeks of doing your daily every day is 42 laurels, which you rounded down to 40. I guess the 50 ecto is there just because why not make ectoplasm more expensive than it already is? Wouldn’t 40 laurels have been enough? You don’t have to respond constantly, I’m just really curious why the laurels weren’t enough… They were for amulets and rings (thankfully).

Also, is there any hope for these new ascended items being available from fractals such as your “play the game your way and get rewarded for your time” philosophy suggests? If not, is there a particular reason why you’re preventing that sort of personal reward acquisition? I’d think you (ANet) would want all ascended items acquirable in all ways that you can acquire ascended items, that way you truly can play the difficult content you want to play and be rewarded for it.

Here I was thinking Anet wouldn’t be that dumb and this had to be wrong, they wouldn’t want ectos to skyrocket or make it so it is impractical to ever gear another spec or alt. Especially so soon after releasing the last piece of ascended, just barely got one necklace. But their replies seems like this is the plan. Seriously Anet getting tired of this.

Folk.2093:

I dont see why fractals keep getting left out since the rings became abailable; I’d like to get the amulet and accessories by doing fractals sometime soon.

Dude, that makes too much sense. And we are in the business of making absolutely no sense here.

I hear you Joey, here’s another quote from that post I linked: “We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.”

Don’t get me wrong here, I love this game to death! You can tell that a lot of love was put into it. But seeing such hypocritically long mandatory gear grinds from a company that says “we don’t make grindy games” really is a downer.

cesmode.4257:

Folk.2093:

I dont see why fractals keep getting left out since the rings became abailable; I’d like to get the amulet and accessories by doing fractals sometime soon.

Dude, that makes too much sense. And we are in the business of making absolutely no sense here.

Nah, Anet is in the business of kicking us in the junk.

Seriously, every time I see some sort of interview or blog post I let myself get sucked back in a little bit and start thinking that everything is fine, I’ve been overreacting, and I just need to spend less time browsing the forum. (the latter is undoubtedly true, I always walk away feeling worse than when I got here) Then the next nugget of truth comes out, and I’m kicked back into the depths of misery.

Screw you guys, I’m going home.

Afro Dude.8423:

Mungrul.9358:

I’ve never had 50 ectos at one time. Running a full stable of alts puts paid to that, and my rare/exotic drop rate isn’t what I’d call generous. I’m more likely to get to 40 laurels before I get 50 ectos.
This new gearing policy of theirs that relies on grind is positively hateful.
I want max gear for peanuts, just the way it was in GW1.
All these eejits insisting that max stats should require grind because that’s how every other MMO does it have spoiled this game.

Ah well, yet another reason to continue not to buy gems.
As long as they continue with this despicable behaviour, I’ll continue to play without giving them a cent of money.
They can pay for me to play.

Well said buddy, the requirements for the new items are downright stupid for anyone that doesn’t like to grind to no tomorrow. Infact, here’s a key quote from the staff found here :“I can’t tell you how many times I played Quest for Glory; the game didn’t give me 25 daily quests I needed to log in and do—I played it multiple times because it was fun!”

Yes, because it sure is “fun” needing to grind dailies for ridiculous amounts of time (30-70 dailies & counting if you can sign in every day.) just to outfit one of my characters with gear that doesn’t put her at a fixed statistical disadvantage.

I was soooooooo excited for GW2 after reading that and other blog posts like it.

This game is near opposite of what I thought it would be. The old spirit of Guild Wars is pretty well dead and buried.

I hate to say it, mate, but you are right. This game is moving direclty away from “fun” and directly toward “Pavlovian”.

They need to make a salvage kit that guaruntees at least 1 ecto per rare or at the very least 1 per exotic. The demand is growing by leaps and bounds but supply is still limited.
It wouldn’t make a huge difference to me as I have only ever seen enough ectos to gear up two lvl 80’s in crafted exotics and 1 of them in two pieces of jewelry. BUT I also don’t run dungeons either so I can’t really complain about a lack of supply.
I do open world and WvW and so far on a condi ranger & guardian the rares are just…. rare? And exotics are only for map completion and karka chests.

At least with a salvage kit that gives at least one ecto, prices of ectos won’t skyrocket yet again. Pre-November the price stayed around 13-15s. (edit: hit post instead of preview)
With yet another piece of equipment requiring a fair amount of ectos to craft/purchase I forsee another jump in prices.

I’m starting to wonder how much more it will take for me to quit the game. I mean, at the moment, I’ve just been informed that my options will be as follows:

a) Spend a bucketload of gold on guild influence to unlock the guild missions for my guild.
b)Spend a bucketload of gold on ectos to get the ascended gear that way.
c)Quit my guild and join a large farming guild.
d) Wait 4 weeks till my medium sized guild has gathered enough influence on their own.

Ascended Gear is like the EU: on paper it sounds like a good idea, but more and more nasty things keep popping up at increasingly faster rates. And those in charge purposefully ignore us.

neverborne.4736:

Afro Dude.8423:

Well said buddy, the requirements for the new items are downright stupid for anyone that doesn’t like to grind to no tomorrow. Infact, here’s a key quote from the staff found here :“I can’t tell you how many times I played Quest for Glory; the game didn’t give me 25 daily quests I needed to log in and do—I played it multiple times because it was fun!”

Yes, because it sure is “fun” needing to grind dailies for ridiculous amounts of time (30-70 dailies & counting if you can sign in every day.) just to outfit one of my characters with gear that doesn’t put her at a fixed statistical disadvantage.

Please get over yourselves. Ascendant gear has been ridiculously easy to get if you play even semi-regularly. Go play hello kitty if you want a game for 4-year-olds.

The old “go play another game because I don’t like what you have to say” argument.

If I played “semi regularly” as you put it, let’s just say 20 out of 30 days in a month… I would still need to wait 2 months to get one of the new ascended items released today for one of my multiple characters. 2 months for 1 item out of the 12 total that my character can equip, not including weapons. Yes, that is “ridiculously easy.” You sir you helm ArenaNet’s design staff, I am in awe of your brilliance!

ThiBash.5634:

I’m starting to wonder how much more it will take for me to quit the game. I mean, at the moment, I’ve just been informed that my options will be as follows:

a) Spend a bucketload of gold on guild influence to unlock the guild missions for my guild.
b)Spend a bucketload of gold on ectos to get the ascended gear that way.
c)Quit my guild and join a large farming guild.
d) Wait 4 weeks till my medium sized guild has gathered enough influence on their own.

Ascended Gear is like the EU: on paper it sounds like a good idea, but more and more nasty things keep popping up at increasingly faster rates. And those in charge purposefully ignore us.

e) Take a several month from the game, come back with prices die down. Only to realize, that you are now several more slots behind the ascended gear curve. Wait, I thought that this wasnt supposed to happen. People kept telling me I could quit and come back whenever I want and I wont be behind!

Im with you dude. Love my guild. Love some of these changes. But the negatives are weighing heavier than positives. And since the very beginning(even in beta), Ive noticed that anet walks the fine line between what they say and do, and fall whichever the way the wind blows. Wondering what else needs to happen for me to leave the game. If I left, my choices are:

-Diablo 3(just got a CM wizard to max with kickin gear)
-Mass Effect 3 multiplayer…I have the itch again
-Wait to try out firefall
-Wait to try out defiant
-Stop MMOs all together. Ive always said GW2 is my last straw with MMOs…I didnt think it would be a time sink so I said OK. Now, Its as much of a time sink as any raiding gear treadmil game out there, so long as you want to stay current with your gear and current with the content. This is NOT the game that was advertised to me.

In this thread: People complaining about access to ectos and overlooking the part where you’re guaranteed at least two rares completing the missions. (Helpful Hint: Up to six free ectos right there per chest.)

By the way… those complaining about the gear curve, grind etc. need to slow down, take a breath and actually do the math before you freak out. For example, the ascended amulet (berserker equivalent) gives you an increase in damage (not DPS, damage) of 0.55% over the exotic. That’s it… 0.55%. This is hardly required, game breaking, forced grind, yada yada.

Afro Dude.8423:

I hear you Joey, here’s another quote from that post I linked: “We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.”

Don’t get me wrong here, I love this game to death! You can tell that a lot of love was put into it. But seeing such hypocritically long mandatory gear grinds from a company that says “we don’t make grindy games” really is a downer.

It’s not a mandatory gear grind. It doesn’t give you any noticeable advantage over those who don’t have ascended. It’s not going to sway the outcome in WvW. I have yet to see any real reason to chase after this gear other than WANTING to have the best stats, not NEEDING them. It’s quite optional and exists solely for those who want to chase this kind of gear progression.

VOLKON.1290:

In this thread: People complaining about access to ectos and overlooking the part where you’re guaranteed at least two rares completing the missions. (Helpful Hint: Up to six free ectos right there per chest.)

By the way… those complaining about the gear curve, grind etc. need to slow down, take a breath and actually do the math before you freak out. For example, the ascended amulet (berserker equivalent) gives you an increase in damage (not DPS, damage) of 0.55% over the exotic. That’s it… 0.55%. This is hardly required, game breaking, forced grind, yada yada.

Dude, Ive been salvaging rares for the last week. On average, I get 2 silk scrap and the rune back. I might get lucky and get 1 ecto.

My luck has been crap with ectos lately.

Daily for ascended, weekly for ascended, monthly for ascended..

Seriously whats next? yearly for ascended..

I like to be able to EARN my gear upgrades, often on more then 1 char.. this system you guys seem to be bending towards now seem to suggest i should only log on once a day to complete the MEHHH tasks..

Not to mention the prices are getting more and more idiotic for every new ascended item you add.. seriously who the hell is coming up with these prices? they make about as much sense as licking a frozen pole.

40 days, of doing the exact same thing to get 1! accessory? for 1! char? with hardly noticeable stat increase..

Honestly it seems Arena net is trying to cater more and more to the ultra casual, while at the same time killing of the idea of having alts..

But HEY, I can always get accessories from guild mission drop, good luck getting the one you want, the odds will be even lower then getting a fractal skin..

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t much care if the new ascended also cost globs, even if i feel 15g in globs is another stupid move, the problem is the senseless laurel prices.

VOLKON.1290:

In this thread: People complaining about access to ectos and overlooking the part where you’re guaranteed at least two rares completing the missions. (Helpful Hint: Up to six free ectos right there per chest.)

Agreed that it’s up to 6 free ectos or it’s also 0 ectos. From a rare that is ok (painful but ok) but from an exotic piece I would expect at least 1. RNG is kind or hateful.
I was just commenting on the fact that this is another ecto sink when the prices are already rising.
I expect the more diligent players to be much richer than the casual but at the same time it’s getting harder and harder to keep up just to make exotic sets without running dungeons.
(Speaking strictly from the point of view of someone that didn’t level up a warrior or any other direct damage character and has just now seen the difference in what that means. Alt warrior is just now lvl 50. )

I have a feeling if your quitting over this you have not played the game in a few week to a month or where already going to quit the game. Please don’t make this about any thing but your self because that what its ALL about in the end.

Now that out of the way going off with a lack of info is never a good thing. If your in a guild that can do all of these events time is cut down a great deal if your not then it will take you more time but that how it should be the more work you put into something the more you should get out of it. Now its not a hard thing to join up with a guild that can do this because you can join 3 different guilds at once so you can keep you small guild and play with them at the same time (i can see guild event only guild coming out of this) you could be in a guild that is able to do more then one of these events per week AND you can still keep you “bank” guild (if you got 2 to 3 of these your being out right greedy i must say). So now you must make a chose i am choosing the side of fun and i will find my ways to enjoy this high content and FREE update.

cesmode.4257:

VOLKON.1290:

In this thread: People complaining about access to ectos and overlooking the part where you’re guaranteed at least two rares completing the missions. (Helpful Hint: Up to six free ectos right there per chest.)

By the way… those complaining about the gear curve, grind etc. need to slow down, take a breath and actually do the math before you freak out. For example, the ascended amulet (berserker equivalent) gives you an increase in damage (not DPS, damage) of 0.55% over the exotic. That’s it… 0.55%. This is hardly required, game breaking, forced grind, yada yada.

Dude, Ive been salvaging rares for the last week. On average, I get 2 silk scrap and the rune back. I might get lucky and get 1 ecto.

My luck has been crap with ectos lately.

Level 77 thru 80 I assume? I have the best luck with those. Also, if you have the Black Lion salvage kits use those on the rares, if not those then make the Mystic Forge Salvage Kits for best results. (You’ll love those if you haven’t seen them yet… 250 uses and better than the vendor bought.)

Infernia.9847:

VOLKON.1290:

In this thread: People complaining about access to ectos and overlooking the part where you’re guaranteed at least two rares completing the missions. (Helpful Hint: Up to six free ectos right there per chest.)

Agreed that it’s up to 6 free ectos or it’s also 0 ectos. From a rare that is ok (painful but ok) but from an exotic piece I would expect at least 1. RNG is kind or hateful.
I was just commenting on the fact that this is another ecto sink when the prices are already rising.
I expect the more diligent players to be much richer than the casual but at the same time it’s getting harder and harder to keep up just to make exotic sets without running dungeons.
(Speaking strictly from the point of view of someone that didn’t level up a warrior or any other direct damage character and has just now seen the difference in what that means. Alt warrior is just now lvl 50. )

Yes, it’s clearly an ecto sink, but in response to an ecto spigot being added as well, that’s my point. This is a new source of ectos, there needs to be a drain or they’ll completely tank.

MrInfinit.1864:

Afro Dude.8423:

Don’t get me wrong here, I love this game to death! You can tell that a lot of love was put into it. But seeing such hypocritically long mandatory gear grinds from a company that says “we don’t make grindy games” really is a downer.

It’s not a mandatory gear grind. It doesn’t give you any noticeable advantage over those who don’t have ascended. It’s not going to sway the outcome in WvW. I have yet to see any real reason to chase after this gear other than WANTING to have the best stats, not NEEDING them. It’s quite optional and exists solely for those who want to chase this kind of gear progression.

Yes, for now it may be, but what about when more pieces come out? Just look at the stat difference between rings:

Ascended – Red Ring of Death

Power: 104
Precision: 69
Crit dmg: +8%

Exotic – Berserker Ring + Exquisite Ruby

Power: 92
Precision: 63
Crit Dmg: +6%
—

So comparing the two we get Ascended being better by:

Power: 13% better
Precision: 9.5% better
Crit Dmg: 33% better

So yes, it will make a noticeable difference down the line. It may not be noticeable now, but when that glass cannon thief in full ascended gear is backstabbing you, it will hit all that much harder.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Just wanted you guys to know that these are also available as guild mission rewards as well. You can get them as random rewards from completing missions or from the commendation vendor.

Using ectos is a bad idea since they are already required for several other things eg Ascended backpieces and legendaries.

If you’re smart, you’ll switch the open world consumable in this requirement to something different. People already complain about ectos and this is going to make it even worse.

MrInfinit.1864:

It’s not a mandatory gear grind. It doesn’t give you any noticeable advantage over those who don’t have ascended.

Actually, it does give a noticable advantage. Take the ‘all stats’ rings for example. There are no ‘all stats’ exotic rings so those that want a mix of stats, are stuck using a mix of specialized items. Thus, when comparing a normal exotic ring (163+55 stat points) to an ascended ‘all stat’ ring (186+48 stat points), the difference is a whopping 16 stat points, 5% more critical damage AND 4% extra magic find, and an infusion slot for another upgrade. And do note that in this patch, the ‘all stats’ ascended items are buffed to provide an even greater advantage.

For 4 items, the added effect would be 64+ stat points, 20% extra critical damage and 16% magic find. You cannot say that that’s not a significant boost! Earrings have more stats than rings, and all 4 combined, provide a huge advantage over those that solely use exotics.

Note: To those thinking this is comparing apples to oranges, please take into account that apart from the Triforge Pendant, this option simply doesn’t exist for exotic users. That means that for balanced gear, this is actually a very valid comparison.

Afro, good reply you are absolutely correct the stat diffrence is very noticeable, especially now that we can aquire this many ascended pieces, the diffrence will only become more and more noticeable.

It gives a noticeable advantage, on paper. When I start getting left out of content because I’m only in exotics (excluding high level Fractals), or when I start getting torn up in WvWvW solely because my opponent was in ascended, then I’ll acknowledge that it’s an advantage. Until then, I’ll happily keep believing it’s completely optional and keep enjoying this game =)

I just realized that I’ve been looking forward to today’s update all week, until I read this thread. Now I’m dreading it.

I guess every major update after this will be more of the same…

Go read the patch notes in the news section.

Other than the the bad stuff we know about I was left saying “that’s IT?!”. When you’re only going to do 1 patch a month you should probably fit a few more fixes and/or balance changes than that. (god when I got to the ranger section I about died…)

Afro Dude.8423:

MrInfinit.1864:

Afro Dude.8423:

Don’t get me wrong here, I love this game to death! You can tell that a lot of love was put into it. But seeing such hypocritically long mandatory gear grinds from a company that says “we don’t make grindy games” really is a downer.

It’s not a mandatory gear grind. It doesn’t give you any noticeable advantage over those who don’t have ascended. It’s not going to sway the outcome in WvW. I have yet to see any real reason to chase after this gear other than WANTING to have the best stats, not NEEDING them. It’s quite optional and exists solely for those who want to chase this kind of gear progression.

Yes, for now it may be, but what about when more pieces come out? Just look at the stat difference between rings:

Ascended – Red Ring of Death

Power: 104
Precision: 69
Crit dmg: +8%

Exotic – Berserker Ring + Exquisite Ruby

Power: 92
Precision: 63
Crit Dmg: +6%
—

So comparing the two we get Ascended being better by:

Power: 13% better
Precision: 9.5% better
Crit Dmg: 33% better

So yes, it will make a noticeable difference down the line. It may not be noticeable now, but when that glass cannon thief in full ascended gear is backstabbing you, it will hit all that much harder.

What about the neck version? They seem to hit a cap and add a lot less then the rings do.