Guild Wars 2

Before you guys jump in to say again that if they drop more often, then they lose their value, then so be it! Introduce more loot after that that are valuable when the current batch of valuables lose their value!
Loot doesn’t need to remain valuable forever! they can be replaced with newer equally valuable items after they lose their value!
The important thing is to let PvE players feel the exhilaration from finding a VALUABLE item!

Lack of valuable loot is really killing my interest in doing PvE.
Most games/game modes are the same. Kill monsters and gain loot.

Loot makes up a huge part of the game IMO.

I really need better and more valuable loot dropping =/

And dropping for solo play too. Not where I need to form teams for raids or join large groups to kill world bosses.

I really need solo play good loot drops.

I’m referring to loot that is worth 100+ to 1000s of gold.
Like precursors etc.
I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.
Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.

That is so sad! 2 Years!

MadRabbit.3179:

… other more loot RPGs manage to achieve a higher balance between making the character feel rewarded from loot drops with the inevitability of characters grinding out the system.

But, that balance doesn’t even come close to existing in GW2. They have had the right item at some points with the introduction of standalone armor and weapons.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_named_weapons

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_standalone_armor

But the items on this list are mostly acquired via…

1. Gem Store (biggest culprit of them all)
2. Previous Living World Seasons (N/A)
3. Festival Events (N/A)
4. Material Intense Crafting Recipes
5. Mystic Forge Recipes (Either Material Intensive or Mystic Coin Intensive)

The remainder that do actually drop are isolated to specific areas and with a very, very very low drop chance. They aren’t part of the universal loot tables.

Just because the game has horizontal progression doesn’t mean that it can’t have rewarding loot. Unique named items and armor with an unique skin can be perceived as valuable for applying an unique look to your character. The cosmetic aspect of the game has always been cited as GW2’s reward system.

However, the aspect that they base their rewards on is also the aspect that they make money on, which is why the ratio of cosmetic skins being produced for the gem store exceeds what is produced in the game.

And loot is in a current state where it’s a bunch of garbage that piles up in your bags to salvage for crafting materials. Crafting materials, mind you, that now lack a lot of value, since they are no longer supporting legendary weapons.

The sad thing is they don’t have to make a ton of new skins if they wanted to overhaul the loot system. They already have a ton of available options in the lists in the two links I have provided that players just don’t get, because of how they have to be acquired.

If you took all the current named weapons and all the old unique armor items from the old Living Season rewards, repurposed them to drop universally, made them account bound so the skins cant be acquired off the trading post and altered their drop rates so it was probable for a player with average magic find to get one once every 3-4 days, you would add an element of looting of “Ahh, that’s cool” that wouldn’t be exhausted quickly just due to the volume of items that already exist.

So many cool weapon skins on that list that either have incredibly low drop rates and are targeted to very specific chests or bags or cost something like 50 mystic coins and 250 of a T6 material to make (which they aren’t that cool to spend that amount on).

Wasted potential.

^
THIS
SO MUCH THIS!
This poster above nailed it.
Loot has to be rewarding! I don’t feel rewarded grinding a few thousand hours for items that I break and sell the mats worth a few bronze or silver coins.
I feel rewarded when I find drops worth 100s or 1000s of gold!

This is where GW2 really disappointed me.
The rewarding loots drop so rarely!

GW2 isn’t the game for you if you want traditional approach to getting loot.

Silverwastes is essentially a lot of people playing solo on the same map. Just don’t go to indigo for breach. The loot is quite good there, especially if you keep taxiing between maps that are 80%+ complete.

If you don’t mind doing some mindless farming, iron ore runs are decently profitable as well. Just look up where all the rich nodes in tyria are, then hit them all. You can get about 150 ore in 15 min that way. It doesn’t get you any loot, per se, but you can make decent money with which you can buy the loot you wanted in the first place.

Consider hopping on the world boss train as well. No real coordination required with other players, just attack the boss when he spawns. Look up the spawn times and locations on the wiki.

I hope some of this helps.

How many MMOs have good loot dropping alot?

I’m in no way saying the loot rates here are good, but honestly the white/blue/green junk you pick up can be salvaged for mats. It isn’t a great source of income but it’s better then junk items.

What would you change? What is valuable loot in your opinion? Do you want exotics and ascended chests for killing veterans? Or for what activities exactly do you want improved loot?
Be more or less specific

I believe Vale Guardian should drop one piece of ascended armor or at least a bunch of crafting materials for them. He’s difficult enough to justify that.

Dungeon Runs usually award lots of bags you can open and my inventory is filled to the brim with stuff after just a single cleanup of AC. If you find yourself a decent group, dungeons should satiate your lust for loot.

If good/valuable loot drops often it is no longer valuable. How is that logic hard to understand?

Sphinx.8014:

What would you change? What is valuable loot in your opinion? Do you want exotics and ascended chests for killing veterans? Or for what activities exactly do you want improved loot?
Be more or less specific

I’m referring to loot that is worth 100+ to 1000s of gold.
Like precursors etc.
I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.
Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.
That is so sad! 2 Years!

EremiteAngel.9765:

I’m referring to loot that is worth 100+ to 1000s of gold.
Like precursors etc.
I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.
Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.
That is so sad! 2 Years!

Many people have been playing the same amount 2+years, 3k+ hours and not even 1 precursor. I’d be glad you at least got one! I agree the extremely valuable loot dropping is extremely rare.

I’ve been playing since beta, haven’t had a single precursor drop…
but if “valuable” loot drops all the time then it just becomes more cheap trash loot.
I really don’t like the sheer volume of RNG though.

EremiteAngel.9765:

Lack of valuable loot is really killing my interest in doing PvE.
Most games/game modes are the same. Kill monsters and gain loot.

This game is the same: kill foes, gain loot.

EremiteAngel.9765:

Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.

What’s different is that this game gives everyone steady loot: the top gear required for all content (outside of possibly raids) is exotic, which is common enough that everyone can afford it.

The idea is that everyone gets lots of minor loot, a bunch of modest loot, and hardly any exceptional loot. Then, everyone has the opportunity to convert the trash to coin and buy the exceptional loot that they want.

As you’ve noticed, that means you can go a long time with exceptional loot, which creates a different set of issues. However, given the choice to play the next great RPG/MMO, one with GW2’s system and an identical one with the traditional loot mechanics, I’d choose GW2’s again.

Miku.6297:

How many MMOs have good loot dropping alot?

I’m in no way saying the loot rates here are good, but honestly the white/blue/green junk you pick up can be salvaged for mats. It isn’t a great source of income but it’s better then junk items.

If I understand right, I think the OP is saying he wants valuable drops that are relevant to equipping the character he’s playing … without saying directly.

EremiteAngel.9765:

Lack of valuable loot is really killing my interest in doing PvE.
Most games/game modes are the same. Kill monsters and gain loot.

Loot makes up a huge part of the game IMO.

I really need better and more valuable loot dropping =/

And dropping for solo play too. Not where I need to form teams for raids or join large groups to kill world bosses.

I really need solo play good loot drops.

I’m referring to loot that is worth 100+ to 1000s of gold.
Like precursors etc.
I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.
Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.

That is so sad! 2 Years!

Valuable loot IS valuable precisely because it does not drop often, or is a desired skin/stat/whatever, or both. Honestly, who the hell gives a kitten if you dont drop something worth 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 gold once a week? Raw materials are what make up the bulk of the gold anyone makes in the game anyways.

Oh, and congratulations on looting a precursor off a corpse. I’ve played for over 2 years and the best thing I’ve looted off a corpse was a champ bag that gave me an ascended box.

Obtena.7952:

If I understand right, I think the OP is saying he wants valuable drops that are relevant to equipping the character he’s playing … without saying directly.

OP edited his first post to say

“I’m referring to loot that is worth 100+ to 1000s of gold.
Like precursors etc.
I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.
Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.”

The focus is value I think.

You do realize that if items like that dropped frequently enough for you to get it, it wouldn’t be worth the 100s to 1000s of gold right?

Wasabi Kitty.8247:

You do realize that if items like that dropped frequently enough for you to get it, it wouldn’t be worth the 100s to 1000s of gold right?

They do not realize it, that is why they suggest it. They do not understand supply&demand or inflation. So even items which would sell for 1000g to a vendor would have a overall negative effect if they dropped “frequently”.

I’ve probably missed a few, but I think it’s interesting to observe what the +100g drops actually are. I’m not including BLTC Ticket items, items that used to drop but don’t anymore, or seasonal items.

Most of them are very rare drops from specific events, including some relatively unpopular events, like Rhendak the Crazed or In Pursuit of Knowledge. It might be surprising, but some of them are actually skin-free exotic accessories, which are used for the Treasure Hunter collection. Precursors are the only extremely valuable items that can drop almost anywhere. Aetherpath has some excellent exclusive drops, although it takes some serious commitment to farm them.

I’m surprised Jormag drops have retained so much value. They must be super-rare, or else super-popular, since people have regularly farmed him for ages.

Heart of Thorns introduced some map-specific rewards that are still holding a high value (especially those Invisible Shoes!) They might retain value better over time, compared to certain Core drops, but we’ll see.
————————————————————————————————————-
Precursors
-20 Core Precursors (almost anywhere)

Core Events
-Wintersbite (Claw of Jormag)
-Wintersbark (Claw of Jormag)
-Jormag’s Breath (Claw of Jormag)
-Jormag’s Needle (Claw of Jormag)
-Preserved Queen Bee (Vinewrath)
-16 Aetherized Nightmare Weapons (Aetherpath)
-Pendant of Arah (Eye of Zhaitan in Zho’qafa Catacombs)
-All Seeing (Cathedral of Eternal Radiance meta-event)
-Rhendak’s Signet (Rhendak the Crazed event chest)
-Ring of the Catacombs (Ascalonian Catacombs)
-Sam (Ogre Wars meta-event chest)
-Commissar’s Manifesto (In Pursuit of Knowledge meta-event chest)

Heart of Thorns Maps
-Light/Medium/Heavy Invisible Shoes (Treasure Mushrooms)
-Beserker’s Ebb (Crystallized Supply Caches in Tangled Depths)
-Beserker’s Ley Guard’s Protector (Great/Grand chests after defending Tarir)
-Endless Nuhoch Crusher Tonic (Crystallized Supply Caches in Tangled Depths)
-Dandy Buster (Noxious Pods in Dragon’s Stand)
-Beserker’s Seer’s Warstaff (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth in Dragon’s Stand)
-Beserker’s Modrem Warblade (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth in Dragon’s Stand)
-Beserker’s Modrem Warbow (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth in Dragon’s Stand)
-Berserker’s Mordrem Saber (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth, Diarmid in Dragon’s Stand)

Raiding
-Ghostly Infusion (Raiding)

Nemisis.4690:

Hate to say it, you got a precursor, you won GW2. There are tons of us in this game who have never gotten one, 5k hours here and i have never seen one. Aside from that i agree with you wholeheartedly, the loot in this game sucks. I just despise how it’s manipulated, nerfed and adjusted, and how we get less and less for our time as we go along. Don’t get me going on the DR aspect either, i just want to spit on whoever came up with this idea. Straight from the hip there…

QFT!

I’m well into 4,5k hours plunked into this game and I don’t even know what a kitten precursor looks like. I have 19 toons which I use to rotate on world bosses in Core and HoT and I can even count on one hand the exotics I’ve had as drops. All I ever get is worthless greens and blues… You know what they say about a thousand monkeys at a thousand typewriters being able to write the works of Shakespeare? Well I think they’re the same ones who wrote the abysmal RNG of this game.

If valuable loot were to drop more frequently for you, it would in all likelihood have to drop more frequently in general. Such drops would then stop being quite so valuable.

All the people who get “worthless” greens and blues, you can send them to me. I’m willing to take them off your hands, seeing as they’re worthless and all. It’s a hardship for me to do so, but I’m willing to do it to help others out.

IndigoSundown.5419:

If valuable loot were to drop more frequently for you, it would in all likelihood have to drop more frequently in general. Such drops would then stop being quite so valuable.

We should remove loot all together, because it’ll eventually lose value.

0.o.

It’s a pretty lame criticism, because other more loot RPGs manage to achieve a higher balance between making the character feel rewarded from loot drops with the inevitability of characters grinding out the system.

But, that balance doesn’t even come close to existing in GW2. They have had the right item at some points with the introduction of standalone armor and weapons.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_named_weapons

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_standalone_armor

But the items on this list are mostly acquired via…

1. Gem Store (biggest culprit of them all)
2. Previous Living World Seasons (N/A)
3. Festival Events (N/A)
4. Material Intense Crafting Recipes
5. Mystic Forge Recipes (Either Material Intensive or Mystic Coin Intensive)

The remainder that do actually drop are isolated to specific areas and with a very, very very low drop chance. They aren’t part of the universal loot tables.

Just because the game has horizontal progression doesn’t mean that it can’t have rewarding loot. Unique named items and armor with an unique skin can be perceived as valuable for applying an unique look to your character. The cosmetic aspect of the game has always been cited as GW2’s reward system.

However, the aspect that they base their rewards on is also the aspect that they make money on, which is why the ratio of cosmetic skins being produced for the gem store exceeds what is produced in the game.

And loot is in a current state where it’s a bunch of garbage that piles up in your bags to salvage for crafting materials. Crafting materials, mind you, that now lack a lot of value, since they are no longer supporting legendary weapons.

The sad thing is they don’t have to make a ton of new skins if they wanted to overhaul the loot system. They already have a ton of available options in the lists in the two links I have provided that players just don’t get, because of how they have to be acquired.

If you took all the current named weapons and all the old unique armor items from the old Living Season rewards, repurposed them to drop universally, made them account bound so the skins cant be acquired off the trading post and altered their drop rates so it was probable for a player with average magic find to get one once every 3-4 days, you would add an element of looting of “Ahh, that’s cool” that wouldn’t be exhausted quickly just due to the volume of items that already exist.

So many cool weapon skins on that list that either have incredibly low drop rates and are targeted to very specific chests or bags or cost something like 50 mystic coins and 250 of a T6 material to make (which they aren’t that cool to spend that amount on).

Wasted potential.

EremiteAngel.9765:

I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.

That’s actually pretty good, I’ve been playing since launch (~2k hours) and the most valuable item I have got from a drop is 30 gold, and that was 2 years ago. All my gold is made from farming mats, I haven’t got and exotic drop in over a year now with 194% MF… T.T

My original reply got deleted but I don’t really care, i speak truth. There is no aaah moment in this game for the vast majority of people. Nothing new, nothing exciting, things people are terming loot are just junk items to be salvaged at the end of the day. Any other game they’d be grey or white items that we sell to a vendor or never bother picking up to begin with.

DR does not help with this either, horrible idea who’s time has come to be executed at sunset. They took our dyes away for cash shop revenue, still fuming over that one. Introduced DR for cough bot control. Your customers suffer not the bots. Really disgusting idea with equally disgusting intentions. Loot has been lame and yawn worthy for a long, long time. Kind of shows the direction this company has gone over the years.

Drop rates for anything in this game just suck. PERIOD. This is not supposed to be a farming game, yet they make the droprates so ridiculous yet… this game is not supposed to be a farming game.

Brain fart just now kitten , uhm doesn’t low, low, LOW freaking droprates such as they are, equate to having to farm your kitten butt off which equates to uhm yeah, mmy brain farted again sorry, farming?

Insane and equally ridiculous amounts of things needed for crafting, collections, or achievements also add to the doldrums this game insists. All done because there’s something broken within Anet that can’t seem to figure out how to put out timely content, fix bugs and content, and allows things that are unbelievably broken to continue for way too long; It’s all a slap in the face really.

EremiteAngel.9765:

I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.

3 years, over 6,700 hrs and no precursor. Be glad you got one.

Remember Mike O’Brien’s quote “We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.”

source – http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/21/guild-wars-2-interview-monetization/

So why does everything in this game force grind for trash loot? I think he failed in his vision for not making grindy games.

I feel like Stormageddon’s use of that quote is misleading without context:

GB: Trading items for gold might be less of an issue for team PvP — where all players get bumped to 80 with standardized gear — but what of the implications for world-versus-world?

O’Brien: Before even answering this question, I want to point out that in Guild Wars 2, being competitive isn’t all about having the best gear. It’s not like you’re going to go into world-versus-world and get smoked because someone else has a godly weapon that you can’t hope to acquire. We’ve always been against that kind of thing.

Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.

To me, it seems pretty clear that, in that specific instance, “we don’t make grindy games” refers to games where you have to grind to compete with other players. In fact, that same paragraph explicitly says that they’re okay with ultra-rare items, so long as the difference they provide is mainly cosmetic.

Say what you will about GW2’s development, the manifesto, or whatever else, but that specific snippet of article seems perfectly in line with what we’re seeing.

We all read what we want to see I suppose, to me it still reads (in the entirety of the article) as if there is little to no grind intended for normal play.

Nemisis.4690:

My original reply got deleted but I don’t really care, i speak truth. There is no aaah moment in this game for the vast majority of people. Nothing new, nothing exciting, things people are terming loot are just junk items to be salvaged at the end of the day. Any other game they’d be grey or white items that we sell to a vendor or never bother picking up to begin with.

Actually, in WoW they’d be greens and blues, and even purple and oranges that you disenchant because it’s worse than your Tier X (or X-1) Raid Gear.

Every item’s value in GW2 is determined by its supply, and demand. But right now, I think there’s a divide in the player base. Those who only play the game for their loot (Instead of significantly interacting with the Black Lion Trading Post, gem store, and claim ticket vendors) never really get a significant amount of wealth in the first place, and the 1-15 gold per found exotic is “valuable”.

Any time Anet makes a piece of tradeable loot that isn’t nearly impossibly rare, the supply drives the price down to <5 gold, if not merely a handful of silvers. (And the only reason Exotics sell for so much is because of what they salvage into)

Redenaz.8631:

I feel like Stormageddon’s use of that quote is misleading without context:

GB: Trading items for gold might be less of an issue for team PvP — where all players get bumped to 80 with standardized gear — but what of the implications for world-versus-world?

O’Brien: Before even answering this question, I want to point out that in Guild Wars 2, being competitive isn’t all about having the best gear. It’s not like you’re going to go into world-versus-world and get smoked because someone else has a godly weapon that you can’t hope to acquire. We’ve always been against that kind of thing.

Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.

To me, it seems pretty clear that, in that specific instance, “we don’t make grindy games” refers to games where you have to grind to compete with other players. In fact, that same paragraph explicitly says that they’re okay with ultra-rare items, so long as the difference they provide is mainly cosmetic.

Say what you will about GW2’s development, the manifesto, or whatever else, but that specific snippet of article seems perfectly in line with what we’re seeing.

Not to me. He mentions grind for gear differentiated by appearance rather than power, and yet ascended is differentiated by stats.

Ashen.2907:

Redenaz.8631:

I feel like Stormageddon’s use of that quote is misleading without context:

GB: Trading items for gold might be less of an issue for team PvP — where all players get bumped to 80 with standardized gear — but what of the implications for world-versus-world?

O’Brien: Before even answering this question, I want to point out that in Guild Wars 2, being competitive isn’t all about having the best gear. It’s not like you’re going to go into world-versus-world and get smoked because someone else has a godly weapon that you can’t hope to acquire. We’ve always been against that kind of thing.

Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.

To me, it seems pretty clear that, in that specific instance, “we don’t make grindy games” refers to games where you have to grind to compete with other players. In fact, that same paragraph explicitly says that they’re okay with ultra-rare items, so long as the difference they provide is mainly cosmetic.

Say what you will about GW2’s development, the manifesto, or whatever else, but that specific snippet of article seems perfectly in line with what we’re seeing.

Not to me. He mentions grind for gear differentiated by appearance rather than power, and yet ascended is differentiated by stats.

There’s a reason Ascended Gear and Fractals weren’t included at launch. They were created because a noisy part of the playerbase (And apparently sizeable number of players) demanded them. Ascended Gear and Fractals are a violation of the game’s core design philosophy.

Remember that if you are getting epic loot playing solo consistently so are over 100,000 others. This isn’t Diablo.

You’ve got to remember that loot has been generic’d in order to keep different modes of play equally rewarding. That means nobody gets anything special.

But really, what made loot feel valuable in the old days was the stat gain. It was valuable because it was better than what you had previously. GW2 mostly doesn’t have that, to keep the barrier of entry low.

MadRabbit.3179:

We should remove loot all together, because it’ll eventually lose value.

That would be silly. Of course, I didn’t say that, so I don’t know what you’re on about.

It’s a pretty lame criticism, because other more loot RPGs manage to achieve a higher balance between making the character feel rewarded from loot drops with the inevitability of characters grinding out the system.

Yes, a lot of other games have different loot schemes, and some find those more rewarding. Personally, I don’t find any MMO loot schemes — including this one — to be rewarding, but that’s me.

The thing is, ANet is not going to completely revise their loot scheme at this point. They’d have to remake so many parts of the game, they might be better off making a new MMO instead. So, we’re stuck with the one they’re using, although they may make minor modifications from time to time.

This game gives very many drops to very many players. The items that have value have that value because they’re rare. If they dropped more often, they’d drop more often in general. With greater supply, and decreased demand (more people are getting them, so no need to buy), the prices would drop. That is neither lame, nor a criticism. It is the way supply and demand works.

EremiteAngel.9765:

Lack of valuable loot is really killing my interest in doing PvE.
Most games/game modes are the same. Kill monsters and gain loot.

Loot makes up a huge part of the game IMO.

I really need better and more valuable loot dropping =/

And dropping for solo play too. Not where I need to form teams for raids or join large groups to kill world bosses.

I really need solo play good loot drops.

I’m referring to loot that is worth 100+ to 1000s of gold.
Like precursors etc.
I’ve played for 2+ years and only got 1 precursor drop.
Other then that 1 precursor, I have got no other drops that is worth more than 50 gold by itself.

That is so sad! 2 Years!

That’s how supply and demand works. If more valuable loot dropped, it wouldn’t be as valuable.

“Only got one precursor drop”
pfff, I never had a precursor drop. Don’t think I’ve had one worth as much as 50g either.
It’s only expensive BECAUSE it’s a rare drop. If it was more common it would be cheap. 1g in guild wars is worth more than 1g in most MMOs I’ve played so don’t be expecting drops with large numbers attached.

MadRabbit.3179:

IndigoSundown.5419:

If valuable loot were to drop more frequently for you, it would in all likelihood have to drop more frequently in general. Such drops would then stop being quite so valuable.

We should remove loot all together, because it’ll eventually lose value.

0.o.

It’s a pretty lame criticism, because other more loot RPGs manage to achieve a higher balance between making the character feel rewarded from loot drops with the inevitability of characters grinding out the system.

But, that balance doesn’t even come close to existing in GW2. They have had the right item at some points with the introduction of standalone armor and weapons.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_named_weapons

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_standalone_armor

But the items on this list are mostly acquired via…

1. Gem Store (biggest culprit of them all)
2. Previous Living World Seasons (N/A)
3. Festival Events (N/A)
4. Material Intense Crafting Recipes
5. Mystic Forge Recipes (Either Material Intensive or Mystic Coin Intensive)

The remainder that do actually drop are isolated to specific areas and with a very, very very low drop chance. They aren’t part of the universal loot tables.

Just because the game has horizontal progression doesn’t mean that it can’t have rewarding loot. Unique named items and armor with an unique skin can be perceived as valuable for applying an unique look to your character. The cosmetic aspect of the game has always been cited as GW2’s reward system.

However, the aspect that they base their rewards on is also the aspect that they make money on, which is why the ratio of cosmetic skins being produced for the gem store exceeds what is produced in the game.

And loot is in a current state where it’s a bunch of garbage that piles up in your bags to salvage for crafting materials. Crafting materials, mind you, that now lack a lot of value, since they are no longer supporting legendary weapons.

The sad thing is they don’t have to make a ton of new skins if they wanted to overhaul the loot system. They already have a ton of available options in the lists in the two links I have provided that players just don’t get, because of how they have to be acquired.

If you took all the current named weapons and all the old unique armor items from the old Living Season rewards, repurposed them to drop universally, made them account bound so the skins cant be acquired off the trading post and altered their drop rates so it was probable for a player with average magic find to get one once every 3-4 days, you would add an element of looting of “Ahh, that’s cool” that wouldn’t be exhausted quickly just due to the volume of items that already exist.

So many cool weapon skins on that list that either have incredibly low drop rates and are targeted to very specific chests or bags or cost something like 50 mystic coins and 250 of a T6 material to make (which they aren’t that cool to spend that amount on).

Wasted potential.

^
THIS
SO MUCH THIS!
This poster above nailed it.
Loot has to be rewarding! I don’t feel rewarded grinding a few thousand hours for items that I break and sell the mats worth a few bronze or silver coins.
I feel rewarded when I find drops worth 100s or 1000s of gold!

This is where GW2 really disappointed me.
The rewarding loots drop so rarely!

Before you guys jump in to say again that if they drop more often, then they lose their value, then so be it! Introduce more loot after that that are valuable when the current batch of valuables lose their value!

Loot doesn’t need to remain valuable forever! they can be replaced with newer equally valuable items after they lose their value!
The important thing is to let PvE players feel the exhilaration from finding a VALUABLE item!

^ ok, that’s more reasonable.

I just wish more emphasis was put on crafting in this game then it is. I love the crafting system, but am sick of all the dang Timegated materials!

I have well over 6000 hours and still no precursor but that said I would much rather see the loot system better distributed between game modes.

This would allow people who have a preference to do a certain mode to get their stuff in that mode rather than grind out in a mode they do not like. As example I like to WvW and would love to see the ability to get those Runes/Sigils and the various mats to build them in WvW such as airship parts and ley line crystals or at least allow ome method to convert all that emphryael stuff/badges I find into the same. I do not mind goind to PvE to open up the various merchants for the same but having to do dragon stand events for sveral dozen iterations just to get enough stuff to buy the suerior sigil of rending is a pain .

There is a middle ground with account binding and the wardrobe. Posted this a year ago ( https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/archive/bltc/Week-3-Collecting-and-Trading/first#post4292672 )

Now that we have the wardrobe though, it would be nice if there was a way to collect/acquire the various “named” skins in a path that is not grind/buy gold —> buy off of TP. Let’s say I want the skin of Al’ir’aska because voltaic spears are awesome. The chances of me actually looting it are, for practical purposes, zero. Exotic drops are infrequent enough, plus needing to be a specific weapon, then a specific skin. Sure, I could try to forge for it, but then I need to acquire a pile of exotic spears and if I need to buy them to toss into the forge, I might as well just buy the one I want.

I’d take skin unlocks as drops, separated from the actual weapon. i.e. Al’ir’aska the exotic spear still drops with the usual frequency and can be salvaged, forged, used, etc. However there could also be more frequent account bound drops of skin unlocks that are sort of like recipe sheets – double click to unlock the skin in the wardrobe and that’s it. Heck, group them by region so I know where to target if I want a specific one. Can’t forge, salvage and you actually need another spear to transmute it onto. It is my hypothesis that nearly all of the demand for exotic weapons is to flush in the forge and the demand for the skins is relatively low, save a few exceptions like Crystal Guardian or Cobalt, so this wouldn’t tank the exotic market. Might actually goose sales of trans charges too.

Anything to make loot more interesting. I can remember exactly two exciting drops in my 2k hours – Dawn and Jormag’s Breath. Anything else was only exciting because it could be sold for a decent chunk of gold.

thehipone.6812

It is my hypothesis that nearly all of the demand for exotic weapons is to flush in the forge and the demand for the skins is relatively low, save a few exceptions like Crystal Guardian or Cobalt, so this wouldn’t tank the exotic market.

I can’t help being a little skeptical of that. Just to use your example, Al’ir’aska sells for about 3g, while there are about 25 other exotic spears that sell for 2g or less, some of which are named and some of which are “Rampager’s Iron Spear of Perception.” Prices will go up and down, but I wouldn’t underestimate the value of the skin itself. If people were just buying it to forge it, they’d probably go with something cheaper, so the number of skins whose prices are being affected by their forgeability seems pretty low. (~7 named Spears under 2g)

Sphinx.8014:

What would you change? What is valuable loot in your opinion? Do you want exotics and ascended chests for killing veterans? Or for what activities exactly do you want improved loot?
Be more or less specific

This is where you made mistake.No one wants ascended items for killing veteran mobs,but veteran,champion or legendary mob,gives you same loot.1 green item and 1 blue item,sometimes only 1 of those.

I spent last 9 months in SW.Opened over 50.000 SW bags of all kind,never got single item worth over 3 gold.Magic find is myth and illusion to keep people occupied,so they can rely on high mf% .

Since bags you get in HoT maps are affected by mf,i put that to the test.My account with 530% magic find,opened 3.000 HoT bags.Got nothing.

Opened 3.000 HoT bags on friend’s account,30% magic find,got same loot,which is nothing besides green and blue items.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

All the people who get “worthless” greens and blues, you can send them to me. I’m willing to take them off your hands, seeing as they’re worthless and all. It’s a hardship for me to do so, but I’m willing to do it to help others out.

Nice try, but I’ll keep those precious coppers I make.

On another note I’m not asking that we get continuous awesome drops like Torchlight or Diablo 3, but at least take a look at your RNG so that it may distribute something worthy once in a while…

They could at least make the occasional set of weapon skins that aren’t Black Lion skins and set them in game as a drop. I know those things are money for them, but an endless stream of same ole same ole doesn’t help the game.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

They could at least make the occasional set of weapon skins that aren’t Black Lion skins and set them in game as a drop. I know those things are money for them, but an endless stream of same ole same ole doesn’t help the game.

This!
endless stream of same ole…
I need a skin…let me go grind a few runs of silverwastes or dragonstand…break all the loot, sell all the mats, a few weeks of grinding later, I’ll have enough gold to buy the skin. A few years of grinding later…I am still only getting items to break and sell the mats…but in the process I am still saving up enough gold to buy the items I want…I just don’t feel like it is any ‘wow’ factor…

Not rewarding.
No.

What I want is…

I need a skin…let me go kill a specific mob…solo content…a few weeks later…WOW the skin I am hunting for dropped from the mob!

or

I need a skin…let me go kill some mobs…solo content…a few weeks later…WOW I found an item worth 100+ gold! Now I can sell it or trade it for the skin I want!

They did add valuable skins that drop from Mouth of Mordremoth, at the very least.

Actually, here:

http://dulfy.net/2015/11/08/gw2-hot-weapons-armor-and-backpieces-guide/#Miscellaneous_Weapons

Just a flesh wound.3589:

All the people who get “worthless” greens and blues, you can send them to me. I’m willing to take them off your hands, seeing as they’re worthless and all. It’s a hardship for me to do so, but I’m willing to do it to help others out.

Sending them to you would take about as much effort as everything else. Also there is that throttling which would make sending them to you more annoying than any other alternative. :P

Khisanth.2948:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

All the people who get “worthless” greens and blues, you can send them to me. I’m willing to take them off your hands, seeing as they’re worthless and all. It’s a hardship for me to do so, but I’m willing to do it to help others out.

Sending them to you would take about as much effort as everything else. Also there is that throttling which would make sending them to you more annoying than any other alternative. :P

That’s unfortunate, but if that’s your decision, I respect that.

(Mumbles under the breath. “Curses. Foiled again.”) >.>

MadRabbit.3179:

If you took all the current named weapons and all the old unique armor items from the old Living Season rewards, repurposed them to drop universally, made them account bound so the skins cant be acquired off the trading post and altered their drop rates so it was probable for a player with average magic find to get one once every 3-4 days, you would add an element of looting of “Ahh, that’s cool” that wouldn’t be exhausted quickly just due to the volume of items that already exist.

If I get an account bound exotic drop chances are the only time I’ll think ‘oh that’s cool’ is if I get 3 ectos when I salvage it. Which is what I do with the vast majority of them.

I’ve been getting then regularly from the Chest of Exotic Equipment in the login rewards since they were introduced 1.5 years ago and in that time I’ve kept just 1. All the rest were salvaged because they didn’t have the right stats and/or didn’t suit any of the characters who could use them (or, most likely, I already had exotics with the right stats and skins I liked).

And if you make them tradable they’ll join the ranks of items like Bonetti’s Rapier and Entropy – rare exotic drops with unique skins…worth 1-10g on the TP, a very long way from the ranks of what the OP apparently considers to be a good drop.

Redenaz.8631:

I’ve probably missed a few, but I think it’s interesting to observe what the +100g drops actually are. I’m not including BLTC Ticket items, items that used to drop but don’t anymore, or seasonal items.

Most of them are very rare drops from specific events, including some relatively unpopular events, like Rhendak the Crazed or In Pursuit of Knowledge. It might be surprising, but some of them are actually skin-free exotic accessories, which are used for the Treasure Hunter collection. Precursors are the only extremely valuable items that can drop almost anywhere. Aetherpath has some excellent exclusive drops, although it takes some serious commitment to farm them.

I’m surprised Jormag drops have retained so much value. They must be super-rare, or else super-popular, since people have regularly farmed him for ages.

Heart of Thorns introduced some map-specific rewards that are still holding a high value (especially those Invisible Shoes!) They might retain value better over time, compared to certain Core drops, but we’ll see.
————————————————————————————————————-

List of valuable exotics'

hide spoiler

Precursors
-20 Core Precursors (almost anywhere)

Core Events
-Wintersbite (Claw of Jormag)
-Wintersbark (Claw of Jormag)
-Jormag’s Breath (Claw of Jormag)
-Jormag’s Needle (Claw of Jormag)
-Preserved Queen Bee (Vinewrath)
-16 Aetherized Nightmare Weapons (Aetherpath)
-Pendant of Arah (Eye of Zhaitan in Zho’qafa Catacombs)
-All Seeing (Cathedral of Eternal Radiance meta-event)
-Rhendak’s Signet (Rhendak the Crazed event chest)
-Ring of the Catacombs (Ascalonian Catacombs)
-Sam (Ogre Wars meta-event chest)
-Commissar’s Manifesto (In Pursuit of Knowledge meta-event chest)

Heart of Thorns Maps
-Light/Medium/Heavy Invisible Shoes (Treasure Mushrooms)
-Beserker’s Ebb (Crystallized Supply Caches in Tangled Depths)
-Beserker’s Ley Guard’s Protector (Great/Grand chests after defending Tarir)
-Endless Nuhoch Crusher Tonic (Crystallized Supply Caches in Tangled Depths)
-Dandy Buster (Noxious Pods in Dragon’s Stand)
-Beserker’s Seer’s Warstaff (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth in Dragon’s Stand)
-Beserker’s Modrem Warblade (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth in Dragon’s Stand)
-Beserker’s Modrem Warbow (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth in Dragon’s Stand)
-Berserker’s Mordrem Saber (Noxious Pods, Mouth of Mordremoth, Diarmid in Dragon’s Stand)

Raiding
-Ghostly Infusion (Raiding)

So maybe a better approach than trying to flood the game with ‘rare’, valuable drops and then replace them when they drop in value (which if the price of SAB weapons is anything to go by would mean added a new set every week or so) is to increase the demand for existing items by giving them additional uses or other reasons for players to want them like collection items and precursors.

Except then we run into the problem we’ve already seen with collection items where the people who get a lucky drop and can sell it for large amounts of gold are happy but the people who just want to complete a collection and have to either farm the same event/s and hope for a lucky drop themselves or give up large amounts of gold to buy it are very unhappy.

And I think this the root of the problem. Anet intentionally built a casual-friendly game, one where they want players to be able to complete at least the majority of goals (and certainly those required to access content and progress through the game) without spending hours grinding. And that means not grinding for gold or for a lucky drop as much as it means not grinding for XP or stats.

So it seems pretty unlikely they’re going to add many new items that only come from rare drops and which have the kind of uses that create high demand. Especially since they actually went the other way and removed the requirement to get a precursor as a random drop (by adding collections), causing the prices to crash in the process.

It’s not a mistake or something they don’t notice or do by accident, it’s a deliberate design decision to make the game this way.