Guild Wars 2

If this was like every other mmo out there skins would not matter as much.

That said,

Guild Wars 2 is all about the skins, as such yes unique skins do give some degree of prestige specially those skins that are NOT tradable and limited to those that were actually present at the time to acquire them.

The prestige was not about “oh look shiny” as some of the skins are not that impressive.
it was more along the lines of “I was there when it happened” kind of prestige.

that is all gone now with LS rewards coming back from previous releases.

For example, having a pair of fused gauntlets used to be kind of unique, now everybody and their dog is gonna have one, sad so sad.

Prestige shouldn’t be “I did something you can’t access anymore” but more like “I did something difficult” – like if Liadri was permanent, the mini and title would be prestige to doing that and would be good.

Weapons/Armor skins… are not good prestige items. Titles are. Minis are. Tonics… maybe (would be better if there was a collection tab for them), but skins? Why limit looking cool to prestige? But still, prestige should be “I did something challenging” and not “I’ve been playing longer than you!” or “I logged and did something simple when Anet wanted me to.”

The reason why skins are not good prestige items – despite GW2 being “all about skins” – is that if you want to show off that prestige… you’re going to have the ugliest match-up armor ever. Imagine Molten Gloves + Zephyrite Helm + Twisted Shoulders + Tequatl Wings … Yeah…

And Anet, please, make stats available at all time. And not just via TP. I’m looking at you, Settler’s, Sentinel’s, Celestial’s, and Zealot’s.

Of course, I’d wish that Season 1 would become permanent and some sort of extension of the Personal Story (even if not by that name, I’m talking about the green UI with series of instances/open world events/NPC dialogues). If they did that from the beginning… this topic wouldn’t exist, now would it?

Thank you for the well written and thoughtful post. I agree with you that there are certain types of prestige, and like yourself, I am someone who plays largely for prestige items.

“I was there”- I have mixed feelings about this. I will begin by saying I have every single missable (meaning account bound, never available on the TP) LS skin except for the ones released via black lion chest/black lion tickets, special SAB, and the soverign weapons. I don’t use most of those skins but it is nice to set myself apart sometimes, and I do find satisfaction in having access to looks and options that others want or admire but can not have. However, being a collector, I feel like there’s a certain level of stress/anxiety/pressure to keep up with all of these items and that feeling of having choose between investing a certain amount of time within a specific window of time doing an often very specific event- repeatedly; or forever and ever missing my chance of having that look or item is something I find very distasteful and very displeasing about the game. For the most part, the LS skins were reasonable. Some, however, I feel were not- e.g. collect a full set of SAB tribulation mode skins, all the soverign weapons the first time around, and even all 9 zephyr helms from fortune scraps (back before we knew about the wardrobe). I guess in the end, I feel like they should be consistent- either “I was there” items exist, or they do not exist at all (and all items will always be obtainable). Designing a game with “I was there” prestige items I feel like is ok as long as the items require minimal effort and is just that- you were there, you did the meta, you got the skin. I feel like time gated items should never overlap with skill (e.g. SAB trib mode skins) or excessive time/gold (e.g. current Lyssa backpiece). Doing so has made keeping up with these skins feel like a chore, and the pressure and stress has caused me to play this game but not enjoy it.

“skill”- Yes, dungeon selling does destroy that and the new PvP system completely obliterated it. And yes, I was just discussing with another player how venom share thieves have robbed us of the satisfaction of defeating Liadri

“gold/time investment”- Precursors should be account bound on acquire, should never drop randomly, and require a long and epic process to craft- three to five times the effort it takes for an ascended weapon. And legendary weapons, of course, should also be account bound on acquire.

Wonderly.1324:

Thank you for the well written and thoughtful post. I agree with you that there are certain types of prestige, and like yourself, I am someone who plays largely for prestige items.

“I was there”- I have mixed feelings about this. I will begin by saying I have every single missable (meaning account bound, never available on the TP) LS skin except for the ones released via black lion chest/black lion tickets, special SAB, and the soverign weapons. I don’t use most of those skins but it is nice to set myself apart sometimes, and I do find satisfaction in having access to looks and options that others want or admire but can not have. However, being a collector, I feel like there’s a certain level of stress/anxiety/pressure to keep up with all of these items and that feeling of having choose between investing a certain amount of time within a specific window of time doing an often very specific event- repeatedly; or forever and ever missing my chance of having that look or item is something I find very distasteful and very displeasing about the game. For the most part, the LS skins were reasonable. Some, however, I feel were not- e.g. collect a full set of SAB tribulation mode skins, all the soverign weapons the first time around, and even all 9 zephyr helms from fortune scraps (back before we knew about the wardrobe). I guess in the end, I feel like they should be consistent- either “I was there” items exist, or they do not exist at all (and all items will always be obtainable). Designing a game with “I was there” prestige items I feel like is ok as long as the items require minimal effort and is just that- you were there, you did the meta, you got the skin. I feel like time gated items should never overlap with skill (e.g. SAB trib mode skins) or excessive time/gold (e.g. current Lyssa backpiece). Doing so has made keeping up with these skins feel like a chore, and the pressure and stress has caused me to play this game but not enjoy it.

“skill”- Yes, dungeon selling does destroy that and the new PvP system completely obliterated it. And yes, I was just discussing with another player how venom share thieves have robbed us of the satisfaction of defeating Liadri

“gold/time investment”- Precursors should be account bound on acquire, should never drop randomly, and require a long and epic process to craft- three to five times the effort it takes for an ascended weapon. And legendary weapons, of course, should also be account bound on acquire.

A good thing you bought up that Lyssa backpiece, it is better example of Livng Story prestige items. It remind me why exclusivity is a terrible idea. Invest a significant amount of time and energy farming bosses with ridiculous low RNG drop rate or hand over a huge sum of gold over to people who do to get it.

Palador.2170:

If I see you charging into battle with the gasmask, molten gloves, jetpack, and The Moot, I’m going to think you’re a total idiot.

That’s just arguing an extreme point of view. To assume people with prestige gear will simply mash the pieces together because it’s all unique is an idiot thing to say.

The OP is pointing out that MANY prestige gear is now easily accessible irrespective of how you use it.

There is absolutely no prestige to be had in PvE.

As such, item prestige has never really been respected ever since the start of the game.

The only things remotely prestigious left in GW2 are the old “X of the Arena” old qualifier point pvp titles.

Ravion Hawk.4736:

At the end of the day, it is JUST A GAME. Get over it.

I agree.

So, if you didn’t get a certain item, don’t worry about it. It’s just a game, after all…

That argument works both ways, just saying.

I can’t believe this is even a topic.
Gw2 isn’t some “my rares are better than your rares” game 8 year olds play.
Gw2 has never had any kind of elitist player mentality.
Gw2 Has always leaned toward ideals like socialism and equality.
Everything should come back at some point.
No one should try to feel special lording rate items.

I think what you fail to realize is that this is GW2’s demographic.

http://www.reddit.com/r/GirlGamers/comments/1nkmxz/my_common_first_world_girl_gamer_problem/

That was quite a well thought-out and reasoned argument, OP, so kudos to you for that.

That said, while I do agree with you on the “skill” and “wealth” prestige items, I disagree on the “I was there” prestige items. I am firmly against the idea of preventing players from being able to acquire a “look” they want simply because they weren’t there at the time. What if they were busy with exams? Or were deployed overseas? Or hospitalised for a long period of time? It seems unfair to say to someone “you can’t have this” just because they weren’t present due to circumstances beyond their control.

The way I see it, if a player is willing to put in the work and effort to get something, they should be entitled to get the reward that other players did, regardless of when they made the attempt.

FearedbytheGods.8617:

Palador.2170:

If I see you charging into battle with the gasmask, molten gloves, jetpack, and The Moot, I’m going to think you’re a total idiot.

That’s just arguing an extreme point of view. To assume people with prestige gear will simply mash the pieces together because it’s all unique is an idiot thing to say.

The OP is pointing out that MANY prestige gear is now easily accessible irrespective of how you use it.

It wasn’t prestigious because it was available for a limited time…

Its prestigious if you had to work hard to get it. Which in GW2 means grinding for legendaries, or getting dungeon armor.

Zaxares.5419:

The way I see it, if a player is willing to put in the work and effort to get something, they should be entitled to get the reward that other players did, regardless of when they made the attempt.

This is how I feel as well, and it’s one of the reasons Living Story is hurting my enjoyment of the game – I see the tantalizing reward chests waiting for me for running the Queen’s Gauntlet and engaging in other Festival of the Four Winds events, but, since I’m relatively new at the game, I still have a lot of other content I want to do as well (Map completion, dungeon running, guild building, PvP, WvW, learning to be a leader, roleplaying, learning my class, etc), and wish the LS chests and awards will/would wait for me to catch up to enjoy them on my time, instead of feel pressured to dedicate my time to farming/grinding the Limited Edition Living Story content to get the stuff, with everything else to do in the game nagging me away. I may be level 80, but I’m still just scratching the surface of this game.

I have some legendaries and some living story items and I don’t think they are prestigious at all.

Only item that I got and I felt like I actually had to be skilled and work hard for it is my yellow SAB sword.

NeedCoffee.1402:

Gw2 has never had any kind of elitist player mentality.

Are we playing the same game at all ?

Can I play it to ? :P

On topic,

gw2 is all about cosmetics, there is no perpetual vertical progression aka the hunt for better stats.

as such those LS skins were valuable as prestige items for this very reason, now that is all gone ! thank you very much a.net.

I also feel cheated because the one item I don’t have is nowhere to be found, the mad king memories yet all my other LS skins are now easily acquirable !!! not cool !!!

Latinkuro.9420:

gw2 is all about cosmetics, there is no perpetual vertical progression aka the hunt for better stats.

as such those LS skins were valuable as prestige items for this very reason, now that is all gone ! thank you very much a.net.

I also feel cheated because the one item I don’t have is nowhere to be found, the mad king memories yet all my other LS skins are now easily acquirable !!! not cool !!!

Which is it? Are you cheated because people can gain skins you earned in the right time, or are you cheated because you can’t earn a skin you missed?

As for the ‘prestige items’ – I don’t know of any other MMO that locks off end-game content deliberately (The only one coming to mind for me is WoW’s overhaul for Cataclysm changing the leveling process, and several earlier former endgame dungeons/raids getting cut.)

Latinkuro.9420:

NeedCoffee.1402:

Gw2 has never had any kind of elitist player mentality.

Are we playing the same game at all ?

Can I play it to ? :P

On topic,

gw2 is all about cosmetics, there is no perpetual vertical progression aka the hunt for better stats.

as such those LS skins were valuable as prestige items for this very reason, now that is all gone ! thank you very much a.net.

I also feel cheated because the one item I don’t have is nowhere to be found, the mad king memories yet all my other LS skins are now easily acquirable !!! not cool !!!

I assure you were all playing the same game. It may seem different to you because your turning it into something else.

Anet is the only company to realize you need to separate pvp and pvp in an mmo in order to have equal level and stats in pvp. Heck they even got rid of the small amount of elitism via outfits in pvp. Does that sound like a company that supports your star bellied sneetch mentality?

i aggree 100% currently the only kind of prestige in gw2 is expensiveness and thats not good enough considering how MANY items r in the game and they all do the exact same thing at the end of the day

anet plz respect that we worked hard for items and dont want other ppl having them if they didnt do the content. dont re release stuff like this anymore

I think it’s awesome that those temporary rewards are available again. Temporary items were one of the most toxic things I’ve experienced in many MMO, making them available over a recuring limited period of time is great(i really hope next year those will be available again during crown pavillion).

I don’t “respect” people who have a certain items, but I do think the Living Story items should remain only be acquired for that content, and should show off that you did it. If they gave out the Liadri Mini to everyone who had 10 gold, that wouldn’t exactly be fair. If the content isn’t available, the rewards shouldn’t be either IMO.

By “respect” I meant to apply it more to the item than the person, as in this is item x only obtainable via doing Y then Z, I will respect that that is the items method of attainment and not demand access because I (in the case of permanent items) refuse to do or I am unable to do the content required. (example in this case being the occasional thread I see about people asking for dungeon tokens to drop in the open world just to suit them :/)

On temporary items/ LS items where most of the topic has gone to focus on now I feel that the temporary nature of them was meant to be horizontal progression. Your account has progressed because you now have an item others can’t get. Personally I’ve done pretty much everything in the game except get the last 6 fractal levels or grind out more Wvw/PvP rank or grab some more skins/titles that any tom, kitten or harry could get with a few hours work. So the only rewards for me were the LS items.

@NeedCoffee Equality (in an MMO context and only an MMO context) I find is a bad idea in an MMO people need something to drive them and motivate them and striving to be the best and have ways to show their improvement is a fun way to do so. A cafeteria line style MMO would quickly lose customers (i.e here’s your content and your reward move to the next area repeat with no variation)

One thing I’ve always loved about MMO’s is that there are several tiers of players but it usually isn’t in an oppressive manner. There’s the people who haven’t even hit 80 but don’t mind kitten ing around in the open world, there are people who can’t do dungeons, there are your average players who do dungeons but will never try a high level fractal, there are your above averages , your high tiers and your top tiers etc.

I don’t see that as a bad thing but as something that encourages improvement, you fight your way to the top improve and hone your skills and if you become skilled enough you get that skin you wanted.

@conski
Working hard and being rewarded is good as long that player doesn’t think he/she now has the right to bully others with his/her new found item.
But that’s not what this thread is about.
The op expects anet to never rerelease items so the players that have said item can be part of some silly minority.
All players (new and old) should have the same opportunities as everyone else.

I have an alternate question for people opposed to limited-time items: should ArenaNet say “this item is available during the course of this event only” and then bring it back later?

I think my main concern is that we were told items had limited availability, so I moved around my schedule and made time to get items that I wanted… now they’re back and very easy to get.

I’m glad for players who might have missed out, but if I had known they’d be released again later, I certainly would have done other things with my life/game balance.

I guess you could nitpick at the wording and say that the items were always listed as “limited availability” and not “one-time only.”

Be careful what you ask for, you might just get it. There might be more incredibly hard to get exclusive items like Lyssa backpiece recipe coming your way. This rerelease of living story items probably only happen because of the launch in China. It is the first time they have access to those items. It is for them to get those items, not really for us.

timmyf.1490:

I have an alternate question for people opposed to limited-time items: should ArenaNet say “this item is available during the course of this event only” and then bring it back later?

I think my main concern is that we were told items had limited availability, so I moved around my schedule and made time to get items that I wanted… now they’re back and very easy to get.

I’m glad for players who might have missed out, but if I had known they’d be released again later, I certainly would have done other things with my life/game balance.

I guess you could nitpick at the wording and say that the items were always listed as “limited availability” and not “one-time only.”

To answer you question, yes they should.
In your scenario your not realizing because of your sacrifice of time to acquire the items you wanted you got to enjoy them before others.

NeedCoffee.1402:

timmyf.1490:

I have an alternate question for people opposed to limited-time items: should ArenaNet say “this item is available during the course of this event only” and then bring it back later?

I think my main concern is that we were told items had limited availability, so I moved around my schedule and made time to get items that I wanted… now they’re back and very easy to get.

I’m glad for players who might have missed out, but if I had known they’d be released again later, I certainly would have done other things with my life/game balance.

I guess you could nitpick at the wording and say that the items were always listed as “limited availability” and not “one-time only.”

To answer you question, yes they should.
In your scenario your not realizing because of your sacrifice of time to acquire the items you wanted you got to enjoy them before others.

You don’t think it’d be better to just come out and say, “This item will be available until <date> and won’t return for a while?”

@Timmy
Yes, sure that would be better. But that would never do that because they want to be able to spring stuff like that on us when it’s more advantageous for them.

timmyf.1490:

NeedCoffee.1402:

timmyf.1490:

I have an alternate question for people opposed to limited-time items: should ArenaNet say “this item is available during the course of this event only” and then bring it back later?

I think my main concern is that we were told items had limited availability, so I moved around my schedule and made time to get items that I wanted… now they’re back and very easy to get.

I’m glad for players who might have missed out, but if I had known they’d be released again later, I certainly would have done other things with my life/game balance.

I guess you could nitpick at the wording and say that the items were always listed as “limited availability” and not “one-time only.”

To answer you question, yes they should.
In your scenario your not realizing because of your sacrifice of time to acquire the items you wanted you got to enjoy them before others.

You don’t think it’d be better to just come out and say, “This item will be available until <date> and won’t return for a while?”

I know that would have made a big difference to my playstyle as well Timmyf , For one I probobly wouldn’t have bothered collecting all of them if they were coming back and instead of logging on every two weeks I would have been able to have a burnout and then return.

@Coffee I personally don’t think the you had it for a while first is a valid counter because the reason the item was obtained was not to be first but to have it because it was limited and would eventually become semi-rare a different statement, also who can tell or knows that you had it first now?
It’s similar to the argument on duel legendaries where its “oh you still have the stats” where its not the reason most people obtained the item for.

@conski
Why do you need someone to know you acquired said item first?
That mentality is part of the problem.
Self gratification should be enough.

NeedCoffee.1402:

@conski
Why do you need someone to know you acquired said item first?
That mentality is part of the problem.
Self gratification should be enough.

A hard question to answer completely , but I’ll give it a shot. (bare in mind that some of these may seem unrelated to the topic but fit into the mental image I have for Guildwars)

1. Because I believe that if you have been playing since the start of say Guildwars 1 it should count for something same from the start of Guildwars 2 and these items are ways of showing that experience and telling YOUR story. Not just another cheap item skin.

2. I don’t believe anyone in the game should be able to obtain every item, I dislike the “just a game” mentality people use to justify it and believe an MMO should be so grand scale with such a varied method for getting different items that you couldn’t hope to amass even a fraction of all the items you want (want not need), the variances in what items you have compared to another tell the story of the things you have done.

3. Because I’d like Guildwars to emulate the form of MMO seen in various media (.Hack , LogHorizon, Epic, Saga etc) Where theres the general population and they do their thing but there is also veterans and rare hunters who have items they haven’t even heard of. A world where there are extremely rare items with obscure and extremely difficult to complete requirements/conditions that give a feeling of satisfaction if you’re skilled enough to complete it.

Conski Deshan.2057:

NeedCoffee.1402:

@conski
Why do you need someone to know you acquired said item first?
That mentality is part of the problem.
Self gratification should be enough.

A hard question to answer completely , but I’ll give it a shot. (bare in mind that some of these may seem unrelated to the topic but fit into the mental image I have for Guildwars)

1. Because I believe that if you have been playing since the start of say Guildwars 1 it should count for something same from the start of Guildwars 2 and these items are ways of showing that experience and telling YOUR story. Not just another cheap item skin.

2. I don’t believe anyone in the game should be able to obtain every item, I dislike the “just a game” mentality people use to justify it and believe an MMO should be so grand scale with such a varied method for getting different items that you couldn’t hope to amass even a fraction of all the items you want (want not need), the variances in what items you have compared to another tell the story of the things you have done.

3. Because I’d like Guildwars to emulate the form of MMO seen in various media (.Hack , LogHorizon, Epic, Saga etc) Where theres the general population and they do their thing but there is also veterans and rare hunters who have items they haven’t even heard of. A world where there are extremely rare items with obscure and extremely difficult to complete requirements/conditions that give a feeling of satisfaction if you’re skilled enough to complete it.

1 – Nonsense. You can have all the mementos that you want. Other people having similar items doesn’t affect it.

2 – So, new players are undesirable?
I mean if you know that you will miss a lot of things for not playing since the beginning why start to play now?
Better start with other game that will let you to play all the content. Or at least most of all.
I’m not talking about a title. I’m talking about missing the story.

3- Skilled? You mean you bought the game earlier? Or that you never takes breaks from it?

The part the OP should rethink is where they stated “it’s an unwritten….” in the defintion of “prestige item”. You are 100% correct that it is something Anet has NEVER written down, claimed or implied in regard to LS Event items. The idea of “prestige items” is something a segment of the community has invented in their own mind….they are NOT something Anet has ever acknowledged as existing nor have they ever stated they will never be made available again. The idea that OWNING them makes you “special” within the game is a self-delusional belief.

It’s kind of sad to see the level of passion, anger and twisted logic they are seriously expressing over this issue.

To all those says the Living Story items are rare and prestigious.

They aren’t rare. Thousands of people have them. Maybe 10s of thousands.

They aren’t prestigious. They weren’t done by doing hard content. Many were done by doing dailies. A number of people get the meta done in one day.

The only real qualifications for most of them were, you owned the game and you showed up and did some minimal work. For that amount of rarity and prestige I have no problem with letting new people get a shot at them.

rincewind.9528:

1 – Nonsense. You can have all the mementos that you want. Other people having similar items doesn’t affect it.

2 – So, new players are undesirable?
I mean if you know that you will miss a lot of things for not playing since the beginning why start to play now?
Better start with other game that will let you to play all the content. Or at least most of all.
I’m not talking about a title. I’m talking about missing the story.

3- Skilled? You mean you bought the game earlier? Or that you never takes breaks from it?

You are apply my opinion on items in general specifically just to living story skins,

1. Player perception of an item is effected, if they know the item was a once off they know it’s a memento if it has been re-released it creates uncertainty and doubt as to how the item was acquired, I know I judge based off that logic at least.

2. Not quite sure how you pulled that from my point but no I think new players should always be flowing into the game, Odd every MMO in existance works like that and people still seem to play it (item wise) as for story events I’ve seen Warframe and Eve online manage story progression in a non permanent content manner just fine.

I’ve never joined an MMO new or old and expected access to everything or everything to be there for me and I think it would be a silly expectation to hamstring a story or item reward for the existing player base just for new players who can read up.

3. Taken out of context, as is clearly stated in the first sentence I would like guildwars to emulate they are not currently doing so, ideally we’re talking obtained after obscure hard to do boss fights or extremely difficult challenges I don’t like the pointless grind achievements any more than you do.

Brother Grimm.5176:

It’s kind of sad to see the level of passion, anger and twisted logic they are seriously expressing over this issue.

I feel like Conski is responding very fairly to questions he’s getting. “Anger” doesn’t seem appropriate.

If anything, the anger is coming from others at Conski because of his post.

Do you all seriously believe there should not be ANY “you had to be there” items? Is that the only prestige-type Conski listed (limited time, high skill, expensive) that you think is bad? Or are either of the other two also unacceptable?

Conski Deshan.2057:

rincewind.9528:

1 – Nonsense. You can have all the mementos that you want. Other people having similar items doesn’t affect it.

2 – So, new players are undesirable?
I mean if you know that you will miss a lot of things for not playing since the beginning why start to play now?
Better start with other game that will let you to play all the content. Or at least most of all.
I’m not talking about a title. I’m talking about missing the story.

3- Skilled? You mean you bought the game earlier? Or that you never takes breaks from it?

You are apply my opinion on items in general specifically just to living story skins,

1. Player perception of an item is effected, if they know the item was a once off they know it’s a memento if it has been re-released it creates uncertainty and doubt as to how the item was acquired, I know I judge based off that logic at least.

2. Not quite sure how you pulled that from my point but no I think new players should always be flowing into the game, Odd every MMO in existance works like that and people still seem to play it (item wise) as for story events I’ve seen Warframe and Eve online manage story progression in a non permanent content manner just fine.

I’ve never joined an MMO new or old and expected access to everything or everything to be there for me and I think it would be a silly expectation to hamstring a story or item reward for the existing player base just for new players who can read up.

3. Taken out of context, as is clearly stated in the first sentence I would like guildwars to emulate they are not currently doing so, ideally we’re talking obtained after obscure hard to do boss fights or extremely difficult challenges I don’t like the pointless grind achievements any more than you do.

1 – Why? This is my item, there’s a lot of them, but this is mine. Why care about what the other thinks?
If that bother too much, just take an screenshot of the original achievment and showoff showing to all the neighbors that you were there.

2 – Well, I’m the oposite. When I buy a game I want to experience most of the content. Of course, If I missed a special gift for an anniversary or something like that something big and special, I missed it.
But in GW is insane. You can missed a ton of things. Like the story.
Because that I’m always on the fence between continue playing or leaving.
For now, I’m refraining from buying gems. Voting with your wallet. Besides, if I stop playing the money will be wasted.

3 – So, we agree… why are we arguing then?

timmyf.1490:

Brother Grimm.5176:

It’s kind of sad to see the level of passion, anger and twisted logic they are seriously expressing over this issue.

I feel like Conski is responding very fairly to questions he’s getting. “Anger” doesn’t seem appropriate.

If anything, the anger is coming from others at Conski because of his post.

Do you all seriously believe there should not be ANY “you had to be there” items? Is that the only prestige-type Conski listed (limited time, high skill, expensive) that you think is bad? Or are either of the other two also unacceptable?

“You had to be there” content can work for special event. Very rare.
Like releasing a new expansion. You can get titles for participating in the event previous to the expansion.

But here the “you had to be there content” is like… two times a month. And you miss the story.
Yes, I’m very kittened for missing chuncks of the story.

NeedCoffee.1402:

@conski
Working hard and being rewarded is good as long that player doesn’t think he/she now has the right to bully others with his/her new found item.
But that’s not what this thread is about.
The op expects anet to never rerelease items so the players that have said item can be part of some silly minority.
All players (new and old) should have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Then you’re back to the problem of content being temporary. Personally, I think to get the Living Story items you should have to complete the LS, not grind tokens in an arena or trade in mats for them.

Morsus.5106:

NeedCoffee.1402:

@conski
Working hard and being rewarded is good as long that player doesn’t think he/she now has the right to bully others with his/her new found item.
But that’s not what this thread is about.
The op expects anet to never rerelease items so the players that have said item can be part of some silly minority.
All players (new and old) should have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Then you’re back to the problem of content being temporary. Personally, I think to get the Living Story items you should have to complete the LS, not grind tokens in an arena or trade in mats for them.

How about making the LS permanent, so new players or one that missed it can complete it?

rincewind.9528:

Morsus.5106:

NeedCoffee.1402:

@conski
Working hard and being rewarded is good as long that player doesn’t think he/she now has the right to bully others with his/her new found item.
But that’s not what this thread is about.
The op expects anet to never rerelease items so the players that have said item can be part of some silly minority.
All players (new and old) should have the same opportunities as everyone else.

Then you’re back to the problem of content being temporary. Personally, I think to get the Living Story items you should have to complete the LS, not grind tokens in an arena or trade in mats for them.

How about making the LS permanent, so new players or one that missed it can complete it?

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

This game slack “representation” at any kind of it.
You can not represent skill or knowledge of any part of a game, becouse any player around has a fair part of it. This game is so fair – what it is even unfair.
It doesn’t matter if you was the 1st one who earn enought badges of honer and get wvw set – becouse of new badges politic any of my alts can have full set right now, not even bothering with killing any person in WvW.
It doesn’t matter how good and skilled you’re – everyone else can buy the same reward as you get by your own. There is nothing you can achive at this point, there is nothing you can hold, and there is nothing you can earn.

Everyone around – even a new commer has the same opportunity as you.
There is only 1 thing – is a achivment points. But I’m pretty much sick seening something like this in lfg “ac story daily 10+ achiv points”.
So yes, this game do not support a prestige and representahion at any kind, even pvp got solid changes. Fair ones, may be.

The only truly prestigious items in this game are HoM rewards. Very, very few players have them and the cost and effort required for them is pretty high. Pretty much everything else is either rare, expensive, a pain in the kitten to get or some combination of the former.

Item prestige and rarity does very little for me. If anything, too many cosmetics are inaccessible for the large majority of players. It bums me out far more to see level 80s in basic gear than someone wearing nice kit who happens to use the same sword and gloves that I do. There’s more than enough options available to create a unique look for your character, if you put a bit of thought and effort into it.

“I was there” prestige is just annoying and puts undue pressure on regular players to do EVERY LS, etc. without the chance of getting some random skin later. Especially for completionist like me who want the wardrobe to be as full as possible. I had most of the LS items but was happy I could fill in some missing slots in my wardrobe. Also since most of the so-called “good” items were 1600 tokens, I really don’t think it’s so big of a deal.

Rich prestige is always going to be a thing, and needs to be there to a certain extent or people will run out of things to do.

Skill prestige is what we need more of. Account-bound, non-RNG, hard to obtain skins and titles. A little more of that would be healthy for this game IMO as long as it is not associated with limited-time content. Especially ‘skill presitge’ armor sets, since there are currently none.

Kurrilino.2706:

You want an easy answer ?

The LS items are incredible ugly.
Either you look like Spider Man characters or like a Viking hobo.

People just don’t show stuff that is considered ugly.
Especially in a fantasy world where you have the classic sword n’ board cliches.

If A-Net makes fantastic looking armors and weapons, or staffs people would proudly show what they archived.

Simple and plain

Well, if you say it is ugly, then it must be ugly for everyone. (insert sarcasm)

Even if you think their ugly, you didn’t answer the OP’s question. He asked why prestige is being ignored, not your Project Runway assessment of LS game character attire.

Whatever, there’s hardly any prestige in having anything in this game given the massive population.

When I go to town, every 20th person has a legendary weapon, and at least half of those are greatswords made of paint. Wow, so unique!

Every new Living Story installment comes with several new skins and at least one title, and you can be sure that by the time it’s over, you’ll be seeing those skins and titles everywhere you look.

If you want to have wearable bragging rights, I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Prestige is made up by human minds. It has to be coveted for there to be prestige. Someone might think “Yakslapper” is a worthy title because most people won’t get it. But if people see it, many might think “oh cool” or more likely “Poor soul”.

Most LS items come off to me as a “I grinded this Living Story and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” item. To be honest, I don’t mind that at all. That is a valid purpose. What skill is there to do a LS meta anyways?

And truth is, most people just don’t care about you. Even if you were the only with a skin, you’d probably get a few looks and be forgotten again. Which of course if you only base value on it, that’s about as forgettable as you’ll be.

Besides, what about that Liadri mini? That means way more to me than most of the stuff in this game.

FearedbytheGods.8617:

Palador.2170:

If I see you charging into battle with the gasmask, molten gloves, jetpack, and The Moot, I’m going to think you’re a total idiot.

That’s just arguing an extreme point of view. To assume people with prestige gear will simply mash the pieces together because it’s all unique is an idiot thing to say.

You play with character models off, don’t you? Trust me, it happens and it’s ugly.

Palador.2170:

FearedbytheGods.8617:

Palador.2170:

If I see you charging into battle with the gasmask, molten gloves, jetpack, and The Moot, I’m going to think you’re a total idiot.

That’s just arguing an extreme point of view. To assume people with prestige gear will simply mash the pieces together because it’s all unique is an idiot thing to say.

You play with character models off, don’t you? Trust me, it happens and it’s ugly.

Luckily, some of us play a fantasy game and not Historical Reenactment Wars 2. ;-)

Tastes vary. I like (some of) my characters to be a bit ridiculous.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Prestige shouldn’t be “I did something you can’t access anymore” but more like “I did something difficult” – like if Liadri was permanent, the mini and title would be prestige to doing that and would be good.

Weapons/Armor skins… are not good prestige items. Titles are. Minis are. Tonics… maybe (would be better if there was a collection tab for them), but skins? Why limit looking cool to prestige? But still, prestige should be “I did something challenging” and not “I’ve been playing longer than you!” or “I logged and did something simple when Anet wanted me to.”

The reason why skins are not good prestige items – despite GW2 being “all about skins” – is that if you want to show off that prestige… you’re going to have the ugliest match-up armor ever. Imagine Molten Gloves + Zephyrite Helm + Twisted Shoulders + Tequatl Wings … Yeah…

And Anet, please, make stats available at all time. And not just via TP. I’m looking at you, Settler’s, Sentinel’s, Celestial’s, and Zealot’s.

Of course, I’d wish that Season 1 would become permanent and some sort of extension of the Personal Story (even if not by that name, I’m talking about the green UI with series of instances/open world events/NPC dialogues). If they did that from the beginning… this topic wouldn’t exist, now would it?

Liadri offers no prestige. I leveled an engineer with tomes of knowledge to 80, put together a bomb built and killed her within 5 tries without issues. If you want skill based rewards they need to think of something much harder than Liadri.

Malediktus.9250:

Liadri offers no prestige. I leveled an engineer with tomes of knowledge to 80, put together a bomb built and killed her within 5 tries without issues. If you want skill based rewards they need to think of something much harder than Liadri.

I hate to tell you this, but most people can’t do that.

You’re at the top. Stop climbing, or find a taller tree.

Yeah. NONE of ANet’s testers ever managed to beat Liadri in her original incarnation. With her new graphical changes, I’ll be generous and say that 5% of players have managed to beat her in-game, including some who did it using the lifesteal method (and probable exploit). The majority of players still do not have the gear or skill to compete.