Guild Wars 2

Deadcell.9052:

snip

Like this statement here: “Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectable items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions…"

snip

Please stop quoting this. That statement is obsolete and has been for a long time. This game is not the game described in the quote. Obviously those statements were intentions that were never fulfilled.

coglin.1867:

EvilUeki.7354:

I hate the fact that they are forcing people to craft in order to get ascended gears.

You can get ascended weapon drops in WvW and PvE content, so I think it is safe to assume you will be able to acquire ascended armor in the same manner. So saying they force you is a little much.

Isnt it a random drop. If you are running a berserker set up, and you get an ascended weapon drop that is rampager, isnt that…not good either? Or can you choose the stats of the piece you just found?

Fjandi.2516:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Since there is no content in the game that requires ascended gear just take your time and have fun making it.

Too bad the crafting process is not fun at all.

you are certainly entitled to your opinion, and I see it as a perfectly valid opinion. However, it has been confirmed that fractals will indeed drop ascended armor in some form. So that will be at least one other method. Will it be viable? We won’t know until next week.

Personally I enjoy crafting.

EvilSardine.9635:

Dahkeus.8243:

While you’re working on that long term goal, those top players will be smashing face in WvW.

Nope.

If you cannot beat an opponent in a duel while he’s in exotics and you’re in rares for example, you will not beat him if you upgraded to exotics. It’s not a big difference. There’s too many factors in a duel between players (skill, builds, all the conditions, buffs, runes, sigils, certain class advantages, foods, maintenance oils, etc.) and a few more percent in damage will not win you a fight against an equally skilled opponent.

An opponent in WvW running sigil of the night (if it happens to be night time) would do more damage than someone in full ascended if they don’t run that sigil for whatever reason.

If I upgraded TWO of my exotic weapons to ascended, I would get the following as an upgrade:

8 power
.3% crit chance
0% crit damage.

In the end, only bad players will blame a loss on an opponent having ascended gear.

A) You’re ignoring weapon damage.
B) You’re ignoring players also having higher stats on 12 other weapon slots.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Personally I enjoy crafting.

So do I.

Dahkeus.8243:

EvilSardine.9635:

Dahkeus.8243:

While you’re working on that long term goal, those top players will be smashing face in WvW.

Nope.

If you cannot beat an opponent in a duel while he’s in exotics and you’re in rares for example, you will not beat him if you upgraded to exotics. It’s not a big difference. There’s too many factors in a duel between players (skill, builds, all the conditions, buffs, runes, sigils, certain class advantages, foods, maintenance oils, etc.) and a few more percent in damage will not win you a fight against an equally skilled opponent.

An opponent in WvW running sigil of the night (if it happens to be night time) would do more damage than someone in full ascended if they don’t run that sigil for whatever reason.

If I upgraded TWO of my exotic weapons to ascended, I would get the following as an upgrade:

8 power
.3% crit chance
0% crit damage.

In the end, only bad players will blame a loss on an opponent having ascended gear.

A) You’re ignoring weapon damage.
B) You’re ignoring players also having higher stats on 12 other weapon slots.

I agree. I just came back to the game a few weeks ago after a 2 month break(before ascended weapons were released). I have noticed in WvW that people are beating me down a lot quicker than Im beating them down. Not that I use to steamroll over people, but I survived a lot longer and gave them a good lickin’ before I dropped. Now, I notice a slight difference, something i couldnt put my finger on. Was it that Im rusty? No, my reactions are quick, im reacting to them, my environment, I know my abilities. Right, the weapon damage on the ascended weapon combined with the fact that they have other ascended slots and my WvW toon only has two ascended pieces.

I do think it makes a difference because I have noticed so. But that is one persons opinion.

Zayeban.2806:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Personally I enjoy crafting.

So do I.

I enjoy crafting but I didn’t enjoy crafting up to 500. I found it to be exceptionally tedious. The number of materials you need is crazy high.

TooBz.3065:

Zayeban.2806:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Personally I enjoy crafting.

So do I.

I enjoy crafting but I didn’t enjoy crafting up to 500. I found it to be exceptionally tedious. The number of materials you need is crazy high.

Agreed. I like crafting in the game, i find it fun, especially the feeling of the discovery when you get like 5 crafting levels. Cooking is especially fun, I bringin my wife and see what she can come up with(she doesn’t play the game).
But 400 to 500 is just uncalled for. Im moving at slower than a snails pace, and it is not fun.

Dahkeus.8243:

EvilSardine.9635:

Dahkeus.8243:

While you’re working on that long term goal, those top players will be smashing face in WvW.

Nope.

If you cannot beat an opponent in a duel while he’s in exotics and you’re in rares for example, you will not beat him if you upgraded to exotics. It’s not a big difference. There’s too many factors in a duel between players (skill, builds, all the conditions, buffs, runes, sigils, certain class advantages, foods, maintenance oils, etc.) and a few more percent in damage will not win you a fight against an equally skilled opponent.

An opponent in WvW running sigil of the night (if it happens to be night time) would do more damage than someone in full ascended if they don’t run that sigil for whatever reason.

If I upgraded TWO of my exotic weapons to ascended, I would get the following as an upgrade:

8 power
.3% crit chance
0% crit damage.

In the end, only bad players will blame a loss on an opponent having ascended gear.

A) You’re ignoring weapon damage.
B) You’re ignoring players also having higher stats on 12 other weapon slots.

I did the all the math quite a while ago (roughly 4-7 full posts worth) comparing rare, exotic, ascended (trinkets and weapons), and “full” ascended (using data mined stat values, though I had to get for the crit dam %) using zerker, soldiers, knights, and dire (caring only about direct damage) stats. (The math included food/nourishment buffs, sigils, and “damage” trait lines, but no actual traits. I ignored runes, and I think I forgot to include sigil “on kill” stat bonuses though).

If I recall for exotic vs. full ascended there was a ~20% increase in damage for zerker. Solider was maybe a ~14% increase in damage.

cesmode.4257:

Very well put, and I agree. However, you seem to have way more patience than I do. A year to release all ascended items, weapons, and gear. Another year to release ascended sigils, runs, etc. Ugh, its just an unattainable mountain. I look up at Ascended Mountain and I just get tired and don’t even want to start the climb. But you’re right. According to Arenanet’s preachings, there is an end. There will be a day where we do not have any more gear to grind or upgrades to grind into ascended. Where we simply play to play and have fun. And I hope it ends there.

I myself will go batty if they then come at us and say “Now you can upgrade your…wait for it…..your weapon abilities, and utilities to ascended versions!”

You have not seen my fury until that day.

I do have a lot of patience… with the game. Not so much with people. chuckle

The ‘mountain’ would be much less daunting, if there was more ways to approach it than just crafting, or just laurels, or whatever. I have said several times (even previously in this thread) that they should just give us more aqusition options, and then I think a lot of the issue would just go away. WvWers could WvW, PvEers could pve, etc etc. Just play and eventually it shall be yours. That is what I would like to see, that is how it should be.

Additionally, I think they spread this stuff out in the attempt to not overwhelm us. Actually, I vaguely recall Colin saying something similar (at Pax maybe?) about not wanting to overwhelm us by just dumping it all on us at one time. Some people appreciate that, others don’t. Some people prefer to just have it all, so they can just jump in and do it. Others prefer to have it parceled out in small sections, then they can work on it in more ‘manageable’ chunks.

Should this “weapon abilities, and utilities to ascended versions!” ever happen…oh yeah, I’ll be right there with you…

Dahkeus.8243:

EvilSardine.9635:

Dahkeus.8243:

While you’re working on that long term goal, those top players will be smashing face in WvW.

Nope.

If you cannot beat an opponent in a duel while he’s in exotics and you’re in rares for example, you will not beat him if you upgraded to exotics. It’s not a big difference. There’s too many factors in a duel between players (skill, builds, all the conditions, buffs, runes, sigils, certain class advantages, foods, maintenance oils, etc.) and a few more percent in damage will not win you a fight against an equally skilled opponent.

An opponent in WvW running sigil of the night (if it happens to be night time) would do more damage than someone in full ascended if they don’t run that sigil for whatever reason.

If I upgraded TWO of my exotic weapons to ascended, I would get the following as an upgrade:

8 power
.3% crit chance
0% crit damage.

In the end, only bad players will blame a loss on an opponent having ascended gear.

A) You’re ignoring weapon damage.
B) You’re ignoring players also having higher stats on 12 other weapon slots.

he’s ignoring a whole lot more than that.

4-6 stat points per armor item = 24-36 stat points
8-12 stat points per trinket item X 6 = 48-72 stat points

there is a 1% crit dmg difference per item between exotic and ascended
that’s an extra wooping 14% crit dmg total, * as a zerker warrior I would call this a very significant increase*

call me crazy but in any mmo, a stat boost of a few percent is a huge deal.
these numbers may look small per item but when looked at in it’s totality they add up to a very big and significant increase in overall stats and performance.

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

What is Arenanet going to do to keep these people playing? Supposedly, Ascended gear stops here, right? So what are these people going to be doing? How’s Arenanet going to settle this? The people that get their gear quickly will be done and they’ll be at exactly the same place they were when all there was were exotics. “got gear what do now?”

What’s next? How will these people be satisfied? If the entire point of vertical progression is to keep people busy by grinding out better stats, what’s going to happen now that it’s supposedly going to stop?

Because I sure hope it’s not going to be something like increasing the level cap or introducing infusions with higher stats or something, because then I’d have to lol at all the “GW2 doesn’t have a gear treadmill” and “the stat differences are small so it doesn’t matter” apologist nonsense I read in the olden days.

Still not sure what the hell the problem was in the first place. Exotics are too easy to get? Wasn’t that the whole point? Isn’t what how gearing in the game was marketed? I knew full well they’d be easy to get. That’s why I got the game in the first place. I dunno, but apparently, as a consumer, I should appreciate how they want to waste my time getting to exactly the same place I was before – BiS.

Seems fine to me your just not going to have ppl on day 1 more then like to have a full set. It may take ppl a year to get a full set but it keeps them working to something.
Look at it this way what Anet is getting from the community is that they hate the LS and this is the idea behind GW2 so you need to add something else for ppl to work for. In effect the GW2 community has asked for this some time ago and every thing this community asked for happens with a time delay. You guys realty need to think about posting complaining on these forums and what it could mean for the game in both what they will added in because GW2 is about adding more and more.

Eversince Fractals-Ascended came out…lot of ppl left……
The only ppl tats left are the hardcore grinders…..tats why Arenanet wants GW2 to be Grinwars2 or gemwars2.^^Its clear……^^

Skill > Gear.
You can play all part of the game with exotic.
ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly
“ascended gear is to be a bridge between exotic and Legendary”

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

What is Arenanet going to do to keep these people playing?

I asked this question already in the thread. I wonder too, what is next. Once we all have ascended weapons and gear, and its a year from now…will they put in ascended runes and sigils? What then? Dare they make ascended versions of abilities and utility skills? What happens when we are at the top of Ascended Mountain? Will people complain, and arenanet reveal some other bogus non sense claiming it was part of the plan? Time will tell.

Seveleniumus.5973:

Leamas.5803:

I can see it now…in 6 months…dungeon group…“LF2M – MUST have ascended gear!!” In a year it will be the norm.

Accessories already been there for that long, didn’t see any such posts yet.

Ya, I suppose, without the ability to inspect, how would they know. I’ve seen it happen with legendary weapons but it’s much more obvious with them.

But, of course, they could make you link them in to chat as a check.

cesmode.4257:

Will people complain, and arenanet reveal some other bogus non sense claiming it was part of the plan? Time will tell.

I’ve no doubt that if such things were ever to occur, like an Infusion with +250 might, I’d still read typical apologist garbage like “those stats don’t make a difference, only noobs think stats matter in a game where every interaction with the enemy is determined by stats to the point where a game mode was developed with the express intent to keep everyone with equal statistics in recognition of this fact” and “this game doesn’t have a gear grind, upgrades don’t count even though they make you do the same thing anyway”.

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

What is Arenanet going to do to keep these people playing? Supposedly, Ascended gear stops here, right? So what are these people going to be doing? How’s Arenanet going to settle this? The people that get their gear quickly will be done and they’ll be at exactly the same place they were when all there was were exotics. “got gear what do now?”

What’s next? How will these people be satisfied? If the entire point of vertical progression is to keep people busy by grinding out better stats, what’s going to happen now that it’s supposedly going to stop?

Because I sure hope it’s not going to be something like increasing the level cap or introducing infusions with higher stats or something, because then I’d have to lol at all the “GW2 doesn’t have a gear treadmill” and “the stat differences are small so it doesn’t matter” apologist nonsense I read in the olden days.

Still not sure what the hell the problem was in the first place. Exotics are too easy to get? Wasn’t that the whole point? Isn’t what how gearing in the game was marketed? I knew full well they’d be easy to get. That’s why I got the game in the first place. I dunno, but apparently, as a consumer, I should appreciate how they want to waste my time getting to exactly the same place I was before – BiS.

I’m just quoting this because I think this is 100% accurate.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

cesmode.4257:

Very well put, and I agree. However, you seem to have way more patience than I do. A year to release all ascended items, weapons, and gear. Another year to release ascended sigils, runs, etc. Ugh, its just an unattainable mountain. I look up at Ascended Mountain and I just get tired and don’t even want to start the climb. But you’re right. According to Arenanet’s preachings, there is an end. There will be a day where we do not have any more gear to grind or upgrades to grind into ascended. Where we simply play to play and have fun. And I hope it ends there.

I myself will go batty if they then come at us and say “Now you can upgrade your…wait for it…..your weapon abilities, and utilities to ascended versions!”

You have not seen my fury until that day.

I do have a lot of patience… with the game. Not so much with people. chuckle

The ‘mountain’ would be much less daunting, if there was more ways to approach it than just crafting, or just laurels, or whatever. I have said several times (even previously in this thread) that they should just give us more aqusition options, and then I think a lot of the issue would just go away. WvWers could WvW, PvEers could pve, etc etc. Just play and eventually it shall be yours. That is what I would like to see, that is how it should be.

They are supposed to do this. They said it’ll be available in a myriad of places. Depends how you look at it.

You get rings from fractals, amulets/accessories/rings from laurels, weapons and armor from crafting, back piece from MF, and the ‘precursor of a chance’ drop rate from a chest for weapons.

Eh, this is not what I had in mind, or any of us! Like you said, I’d like to simply log in, run some DEs, run a dungeon or two, level my alt a bit, and log off..knowing that everything I was doing was working toward that ascended piece. And guess what is the common denominator here…Karma. Karma karma karma. Make ascended gear purchasable via karma. That way you can do anything in game, in the world, dungeon or WvW, and acquire ascended gear.

This way you don’t have a materals list as long as your arm to keep track of, you are not forced out of WvW to craft if you don’t want to, you are not forced to craft period, you arenot forced to run guild missions, you are not forced to complete your daily, you are not forced or cohersed into anything. Play as you want, acquire karma from every part of the game and eventually you’ll have your gear.

Whats wrong with this, arenanet?

cesmode.4257:

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

What is Arenanet going to do to keep these people playing?

I asked this question already in the thread. I wonder too, what is next. Once we all have ascended weapons and gear, and its a year from now…will they put in ascended runes and sigils? What then? Dare they make ascended versions of abilities and utility skills? What happens when we are at the top of Ascended Mountain? Will people complain, and arenanet reveal some other bogus non sense claiming it was part of the plan? Time will tell.

At some point, they’re actually have to create some real substantial content and not so much the LS stuff we’ve seen.

Tiger.7506:

Skill > Gear.
You can play all part of the game with exotic.
ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly
“ascended gear is to be a bridge between exotic and Legendary”

That’s becoming an outdated truth.

Fractals and WvW are becoming exceptions.

And really, you can clear all the dungeons wearing clerics gear, but finding a group to take you becomes a lot harder when you’re not wearing something like berserkers. The same concept will apply for ascended gear. Just because you can clear the dungeon in your current gear doesn’t mean people will have the patience to clear it at the slower pace you will set.

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

Then they will start to add raids to the game. Tequatl served as a test and is the proof that raids can be done. He is proof that hard content can exist for a fixed number of players attending it. That hard bosses with even more and complex tactics can be made possible. This would not only please “hardcores” but also guilds, which would now have something new to do.

Dahkeus.8243:

Tiger.7506:

Skill > Gear.
You can play all part of the game with exotic.
ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly
“ascended gear is to be a bridge between exotic and Legendary”

That’s becoming an outdated truth.

Fractals and WvW are becoming exceptions.

And really, you can clear all the dungeons wearing clerics gear, but finding a group to take you becomes a lot harder when you’re not wearing something like berserkers. The same concept will apply for ascended gear. Just because you can clear the dungeon in your current gear doesn’t mean people will have the patience to clear it at the slower pace you will set.

Factral and wvw never be balanced.
The difference between medicine and poison is in the dose. Gw2 need a Small dose of vertical progression.

Vertical Progression + Nonexistent drop rates = Terrible.

At least give us the delusion they may one day pop from a chest. Yes, I know they technically can, but sometimes it snows in Hell too.

The drop rates need to be boosted, since most of the stat combinations in the game are pretty useless. So even if an ascended lands, it is more likely less useful than the exotic you may be carrying for your build.

I absolutely hate crafting in any game; I don’t care if GW2 has made it less annoying than other games, they still haven’t made it fun. No game has for me.

You either like to craft or you don’t. With ascended gear, they’re forcing us to craft essentially because if there’s a stat increase anywhere in the game, players will go after it, not only for competitiveness but also just general character progression.

Defenders of this design decision like to say, “Oh it’s just a small stat increase. You really don’t need it..” Well, in the grand scheme of things, none of us even need to play the game, right? Character progression is a critical goal of every player whether they realize it or not. It’s fun and makes you feel like you’ve accomplished something. But when they only give you one path to achieve that goal, if you don’t like that path, you’re going to feel forced to do something you don’t like in order to progress your character.

We need multiple ways of obtaining every single piece of ascended gear in the game. Putting it solely behind the crafting wall like they’ve done with weapons is not friendly towards those of us who absolutely hate crafting. I don’t care if the materials drop like candy off champions, etc. There’s no way they’re ever going to make crafting something that I want to do because it’s just not fun. I want to be out in the world doing cool stuff like playing with my friends. I don’t want to be sitting in town crafting.

I don’t care what kind of time consuming grind they put ascended gear behind as long as it’s not crafting. I’m completely fine with it taking awhile to get. ANet has to provide us with more HORIZONTAL PATHS OF PROGRESSION!

cesmode.4257:

They are supposed to do this. They said it’ll be available in a myriad of places. Depends how you look at it.

You get rings from fractals, amulets/accessories/rings from laurels, weapons and armor from crafting, back piece from MF, and the ‘precursor of a chance’ drop rate from a chest for weapons.

Eh, this is not what I had in mind, or any of us! Like you said, I’d like to simply log in, run some DEs, run a dungeon or two, level my alt a bit, and log off..knowing that everything I was doing was working toward that ascended piece. And guess what is the common denominator here…Karma. Karma karma karma. Make ascended gear purchasable via karma. That way you can do anything in game, in the world, dungeon or WvW, and acquire ascended gear.

This way you don’t have a materals list as long as your arm to keep track of, you are not forced out of WvW to craft if you don’t want to, you are not forced to craft period, you arenot forced to run guild missions, you are not forced to complete your daily, you are not forced or cohersed into anything. Play as you want, acquire karma from every part of the game and eventually you’ll have your gear.

Whats wrong with this, arenanet?

It would be the 1st major thing immediately unavailable to most traders and JS would never allow that.

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

What is Arenanet going to do to keep these people playing? Supposedly, Ascended gear stops here, right? So what are these people going to be doing? How’s Arenanet going to settle this? The people that get their gear quickly will be done and they’ll be at exactly the same place they were when all there was were exotics. “got gear what do now?”

What’s next? How will these people be satisfied? If the entire point of vertical progression is to keep people busy by grinding out better stats, what’s going to happen now that it’s supposedly going to stop?

Because I sure hope it’s not going to be something like increasing the level cap or introducing infusions with higher stats or something, because then I’d have to lol at all the “GW2 doesn’t have a gear treadmill” and “the stat differences are small so it doesn’t matter” apologist nonsense I read in the olden days.

Still not sure what the hell the problem was in the first place. Exotics are too easy to get? Wasn’t that the whole point? Isn’t what how gearing in the game was marketed? I knew full well they’d be easy to get. That’s why I got the game in the first place. I dunno, but apparently, as a consumer, I should appreciate how they want to waste my time getting to exactly the same place I was before – BiS.

We can only hope they don’t decide to make ascended+ gear in a year or two from now. I got gw2 for a couple of reasons; I really liked gw1, I refuse to buy/play any game with a sub, I assumed it would be like gw1 (easy to lvl and gear up, but with a fun story and lots of skill customization).

Will I get ascended armor, yes, because it’s there. I’m not happy about ascended armor (though to be fair it could have been worse, a small stat increase is better than a large one. The “perfect” way to do it would have been to have ascended have the same stats as exotics, just with infusion slots for AR). Heck, I didn’t even realize when ascended rings/fractals came out, that I was doing vertical progression. It was just, “oh, cool. I need these things to go higher in fractals.” I don’t think I really noticed until weapons when I started doing % damage increase comparisons.

I don’t see why things need to be so expensive (I know they just want massive gold sinks, but still). Where is the fun, in having to spend ~50-100 ectos and all of the T6 mats to level to 500 crafting with recipes that don’t provide enough exp.

I liked the fact that I could put the game down for 2+ months and never “fall behind.” And alt-aholics could love it for the ease of gearing up their alts, and everyone else had it easy to try out new buidls/stat combos. It’s just way too massive of a gold sink to have to level up 2-3 crafting professions to 500 just to fully gear up one character.

Zayeban.2806:

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

Then they will start to add raids to the game. Tequatl served as a test and is the proof that raids can be done. He is proof that hard content can exist for a fixed number of players attending it. That hard bosses with even more and complex tactics can be made possible. This would not only please “hardcores” but also guilds, which would now have something new to do.

I would love to have 20 or 40 man raids a la gw2 style of course none of that traditional raiding crap that other mmo’s have.

But…..open world raids is a fail in my book.

If there was a Teq 2.0 instanced 20-40 man raid, man I would be putting together an organized guild group just to do that frequently.

Dahkeus.8243:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

It’s supposed to be a long term goal. Since there is no content in the game that requires ascended gear just take your time and have fun making it. You will not be alone.

Sure the top 5% of players will probably be able to make it right off the bat, but there is no need to do it that fast.

While you’re working on that long term goal, those top players will be smashing face in WvW.

Good for them. I’m sure all the little ego-stroking they’ll be doing because of that will be hilarious to listen to as well.
Oh wait, they do that already! Business as usual…

Dahkeus.8243:

Tiger.7506:

Skill > Gear.
You can play all part of the game with exotic.
ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly
“ascended gear is to be a bridge between exotic and Legendary”

That’s becoming an outdated truth.

Fractals and WvW are becoming exceptions.

And really, you can clear all the dungeons wearing clerics gear, but finding a group to take you becomes a lot harder when you’re not wearing something like berserkers. The same concept will apply for ascended gear. Just because you can clear the dungeon in your current gear doesn’t mean people will have the patience to clear it at the slower pace you will set.

I have been tinkering with a tank/support build on my guardian who is in a mix of blues, greens, yellows, and exotics. I fear that when I zone in, that they might take a look at my gear and boot me. The game shouldn’t be like this. They should have designed encounters where support builds are equally welcomed as much as a zerker.

aspirine.6852:

I have 8 professions, like many others here I guess. I have exactly one ascended weapon. Not because I crafted it, because I cannot. It was a lucky chest drop or else I would have none.
We do not make grindy games, it was so good to hear them say this.

To be honest, this is the game’s only grind (as well as the Legendaries), and was put in place so people who love to grind-which obviously, isn’t you and me-had a toy to play with. What they didn’t think too much through, though, is that not everybody is like me, that doesn’t care to get them and will do so, if at all, at my own pace-some people believe that if there is BiS, they must have it ASAP or will “lose out” somehow in the game’s “competition” (be it PvE, Fractals, WvW, etc.) I still don’t care, but it’s obviously bothering you, which is a pity and the reason the game would probably be a “better game” without ascended -although there will probably also be less players, so perhaps my preferred choice wasn’t the best economically for the game.

I still the game is not too grindy at all if you remove ascended and legendaries from the equation. I reach almost every goal by accident, just playing without farming. That’s probably impossible in many other current MMOs where grinding is virtually MANDATORY, which it really isn’t in GW2. So I still believe that one could quote the “we don’t make grindy games” thing, and still be accurate-they made an exception for those who couldn’t live without grinding, and we are also freely able to choose not to join them without losing anything in the process.

Zayeban.2806:

Then they will start to add raids to the game. Tequatl served as a test and is the proof that raids can be done. He is proof that hard content can exist for a fixed number of players attending it. That hard bosses with even more and complex tactics can be made possible. This would not only please “hardcores” but also guilds, which would now have something new to do.

Meaningful content was the solution the game could have used – instead they opted for the trap of vertical progression. Soon, they’ll be at the same position they were before. Will they decide to add good content this time? I suppose they could, but that’s not what they did before – they could just keep their donkeys moving forward by dangling a carrot in front of their faces. Should they change it up now?

Latinkuro.9420:

Zayeban.2806:

TainoFuerte.8136:

So… what’s going to happen now? Once “everyone” or the “hardcores” or whomever finishes all their ascended gear… what then? Will there be “nothing to do”, just like it was at release when everyone “got their exotics and left”?

Then they will start to add raids to the game. Tequatl served as a test and is the proof that raids can be done. He is proof that hard content can exist for a fixed number of players attending it. That hard bosses with even more and complex tactics can be made possible. This would not only please “hardcores” but also guilds, which would now have something new to do.

I would love to have 20 or 40 man raids a la gw2 style of course none of that traditional raiding crap that other mmo’s have.

But…..open world raids is a fail in my book.

If there was a Teq 2.0 instanced 20-40 man raid, man I would be putting together an organized guild group just to do that frequently.

Yes. I was not implying open world. I was implying many instanced raids, with lots of hard bosses in each one of them, with lots of achievements tied to each individual boss and lots of good loot in a weekly chest (not daily). So that players have some reason to do them frequently (weekly), with guilds or try their luck with pugs. If a lvl 50 fractal can be done with a pug, then so can a raid, if players are willing to be coordinated.

They have a portal that leads into the Fractals of the mist. They can add another option when you touch the portal: instead of only going into a fractal dungeon they can add a fractal raid option to it for X amount of players (without Agony ofc.). In there you could chose any raid you wanted from a list of many. They don’t even have to make sense story wise, because its the Fractals where nothing makes sense at all. They can even add new raids in there as many as they like, whenever they like it.
I’m a genius

Dahkeus.8243:

ZudetGambeous.9573:

It’s supposed to be a long term goal. Since there is no content in the game that requires ascended gear just take your time and have fun making it. You will not be alone.

Sure the top 5% of players will probably be able to make it right off the bat, but there is no need to do it that fast.

While you’re working on that long term goal, those top players will be smashing face in WvW.

The way I play PvP they will smash my face regardless of what gear they’re wearing.

They should really award ascended pieces by doing exceptional feats; (maybe have it as a reward for certain difficult or just inane, aka grindy, achievements). Something like beating a Liadri-like boss. Anything other than just tossing a lot of gold at the problem. I wouldn’t care if I wasn’t able to ever accomplish any of these feats, as at least it’s a failing on my part as a player. It would be far more satsifying if by chance I was able to do it. You know, it’s a game— success should feel like “Wow, I did it”, as opposed to “It’s finally over, oh my there’s still more”

I am just missing one more time gated material (please remove this, really— it serves no purpose. I really could care less if someone crafts 20 while I craft 1. ) from crafting my first ascended weapon and have enough for a 2nd, but since I have to learn more than one craft, it’s going to take a while more. Just something else other than grind+ would be more motivating.

STRanger.5120:

Well, imagine the likely to occur situation:

You’ve crafted your nice ascended armor set, weapon and bought all the trinkets you needed. Then suddenly, a balance patch comes out and all your precious gear is useless with the altered builds for your class.

Nice idea, right?
So no, as long as crafted ascended gear (well maybe with the exception of weapons, because Legendary) won’t have changeable stats, I’m not interested at all…. Especially because I’m an Ele player and gear already occupies 1/4 of my inventory, which sucks hard….

Hey now… no need to be elitist. I have 6 gear sets on my guardian for WvW. Weapons specific per set-up included. The whole ascended fiasco is a disaster for players like us.

ArchonWing.9480:

They should really award ascended pieces by doing exceptional feats; (maybe have it as a reward for certain difficult or just inane, aka grindy, achievements). Something like beating a Liadri-like boss. Anything other than just tossing a lot of gold at the problem.

And for those that can’t do a Liadri type boss? Should they be locked out of having BiS gear? As a gw1 vet, that does not sit well with me.

I can agree with not making things excessively grindy. I can also agree with not making things too easy to obtain either. This makes for a very delicate balance to obtain, and no easy task.

cesmode.4257:

Dahkeus.8243:

Tiger.7506:

Skill > Gear.
You can play all part of the game with exotic.
ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly
“ascended gear is to be a bridge between exotic and Legendary”

That’s becoming an outdated truth.

Fractals and WvW are becoming exceptions.

And really, you can clear all the dungeons wearing clerics gear, but finding a group to take you becomes a lot harder when you’re not wearing something like berserkers. The same concept will apply for ascended gear. Just because you can clear the dungeon in your current gear doesn’t mean people will have the patience to clear it at the slower pace you will set.

I have been tinkering with a tank/support build on my guardian who is in a mix of blues, greens, yellows, and exotics. I fear that when I zone in, that they might take a look at my gear and boot me. The game shouldn’t be like this. They should have designed encounters where support builds are equally welcomed as much as a zerker.

While I agree with your premise, the game can be redesigned, but players can’t-if a player is “meta focused” and only cares about speed, even with all buffs support may be getting in the future, it’s hard to change a biased mind.

The good thing to come about buffing other build/gear choices is so that “zerkers only” can remain an elitist niche. If too much content is still being made about speed running being rewarded, the elitist stance will become “common sense”, even if it’s just another playstyle. Even right now, some players believe “zerk” is common sense without being elitist, for instance. That’s why support should be buffed, and I think it will be-however, I don’t expect that niche of elitists to go away, so let’s just avoid them and keep them as the healthy minority they should be, so the game doesn’t get too toxic/uber competitive.

(There are nice and considerate speed runners, of course, but they tend to be the minority among that type of player-“competitiveness” often robs some humanity from them, though of course there are ALSO non elitist jerks as well.)

Common elitist myths:

-“Casuals” are “baddies”, and ANet “caters too much” to them.

-The only way to play GW2 is the most efficient one, established by a FotM, “fastest” meta. Fun is defined by speed (which IS fine, if it wasn’t intolerantly preached like the dogma it isn’t.)

-Since there’s no trinity, only DPS matters-there’s only “DPS role” helped by a few, selected support abilities, although not “support gear”, which is “useless”.

-Gear is more important than skill. They supposedly relish skill, but are more apt to believe that a player that pings his/her berserker’s gear is “obviously” more skilled than one in Cleric’s or whatever else, which is quite often untrue. Additionally, someone with defensive gear “must not know” how to dodge, so he/she must be “a bad.”

The elitist all-offense dogma falls a bit apart in sections of the game where you can’t speedrun as well, but it is true, sadly enough, that DPS is too rewarded vs any other option. I do not blame the lacking of the “trinity”, but more ANet’s own inexperience with their “new” combat system, and now having to balance it so that it doesn’t look as if everything is a DPS race. There are many ways support and control COULD be great in this game, but most content is not currently rewarding it as much, which brings back many players to the old “GW2 is DPS” lie (well, I honestly doubt that was ANet’s intention, even if it seems to be the most efficient solution for most content.)

I respect any given speedrunner’s playstyle, however, as it’s their free choice. But it’s also the free choice of everyone else to choose some other playstyle, without that making him/her a bad player for liking different things.

tip:

Dont level up your Artificing, Huntsman and Weaponsmith to 500 coz ascended weapon drops on WvWvW and Fractal chests. Level your Armorsmithing, Tailor and Leather workers to 400 now coz Capitalists will capitalize on this new addition (unless there is an ascended armor set drop).

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

ArchonWing.9480:

They should really award ascended pieces by doing exceptional feats; (maybe have it as a reward for certain difficult or just inane, aka grindy, achievements). Something like beating a Liadri-like boss. Anything other than just tossing a lot of gold at the problem.

And for those that can’t do a Liadri type boss? Should they be locked out of having BiS gear? As a gw1 vet, that does not sit well with me.

I can agree with not making things excessively grindy. I can also agree with not making things too easy to obtain either. This makes for a very delicate balance to obtain, and no easy task.

Honestly, I wouldn’t care as long as they create new opportunities. There’s many rewards in games I never could get because I didn’t deserve them and I needed to get better, as opposed to I just have to play more. But because this game always adds new content, I don’t think it’s that bad, really.

I never said that should be the only way. They could still keep the crafting part, making a slow and easy way, or a hard and fast way. Like every decent game in existence.

If you’re going to introduce stuff like this that serves as a wall, then you should at least allow different ways to get around it.

So I guess all that negative feedback did nothing? It’s bad enough to have this grind, but to grind for something so fugly…

You guys couldn’t have went back to the drawing board to get some new designs before implement it?

Star Ace.5207:

cesmode.4257:

Dahkeus.8243:

Tiger.7506:

Skill > Gear.
You can play all part of the game with exotic.
ANet got burned by players acquiring exotics too quickly
“ascended gear is to be a bridge between exotic and Legendary”

That’s becoming an outdated truth.

Fractals and WvW are becoming exceptions.

And really, you can clear all the dungeons wearing clerics gear, but finding a group to take you becomes a lot harder when you’re not wearing something like berserkers. The same concept will apply for ascended gear. Just because you can clear the dungeon in your current gear doesn’t mean people will have the patience to clear it at the slower pace you will set.

I have been tinkering with a tank/support build on my guardian who is in a mix of blues, greens, yellows, and exotics. I fear that when I zone in, that they might take a look at my gear and boot me. The game shouldn’t be like this. They should have designed encounters where support builds are equally welcomed as much as a zerker.

snip.

Thinking about it, the only dungeon where you can be gearless and still succeed is cof p1. Most others could benefit from a support toon…even if they dont have one in the group they are still fine. Question is, is it worth it?

TA, with the first boss, could be beneficial. CoE could be beneficial. Arah any path.

But, is it worth it? Find a even skilled zerker player..does that negate the support player?

Are there any previews of how ascended armor will look? I’d like to know if I have to stockpile Transmutation Crystals or not.

At least add couple rich ori nodes and orrian samplings close waypoints. Need to run half day in woods if you wanna make one exotic inscription.

alcopaul.2156:

tip:

Level your Armorsmithing, Tailor and Leather workers to 400 now coz Capitalists will capitalize on this new addition (unless there is an ascended armor set drop).

The fact that there are indeed people who speculate on prices and do everything they can to augment them so they get huge profits, is saddening. It is true. And it shows what kind of world we live in. I had hoped Anet would keep all this out of their game, but alas, they don’t care about equality, even in a game.

More and more this is becoming a place where a select few have everything, while a large undergrowth have nothing, which is certainly the case for ascended gear. I know nobody who has ascended weapons (0 out of 20 active people in my guild). Nobody in my friend’s list either.

So who is anet making these ascended for?

ArchonWing.9480:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

ArchonWing.9480:

They should really award ascended pieces by doing exceptional feats; (maybe have it as a reward for certain difficult or just inane, aka grindy, achievements). Something like beating a Liadri-like boss. Anything other than just tossing a lot of gold at the problem.

And for those that can’t do a Liadri type boss? Should they be locked out of having BiS gear? As a gw1 vet, that does not sit well with me.

I can agree with not making things excessively grindy. I can also agree with not making things too easy to obtain either. This makes for a very delicate balance to obtain, and no easy task.

Honestly, I wouldn’t care as long as they create new opportunities. There’s many rewards in games I never could get because I didn’t deserve them and I needed to get better, as opposed to I just have to play more. But because this game always adds new content, I don’t think it’s that bad, really.

I never said that should be the only way. They could still keep the crafting part, making a slow and easy way, or a hard and fast way. Like every decent game in existence.

If you’re going to introduce stuff like this that serves as a wall, then you should at least allow different ways to get around it.

I don’t see it as a wall, per se. There isn’t anything I can’t do without it. But yes, I do agree that we need to have more acquisition options. many more

The current state of acquiring ascended weapons/armor limited to crafting only, is severely contrary to the core foundation this game was built on… or better put, its simply boring and linear.

Before ascended we all had a goal of doing dungeons to acquire tokens to in turn buy our exotics. This goal was obtainable to the psyche of the typical gamer because one could see the goal on the horizon. To acquire ascended gear on the other hand that very horizon view of gear (carrot on a stick) is fundamentally gone completely. Sure people have gone broke getting ascended weps, but at the cost of what? the cost was no fun and very grindy experiences. Is this the goal of the end game content and gear? This is not what makes me hungry to play more of the game.

I have just one request. At least make it fun to acquire these ascended pieces. I would gladly pay 50+ pristine relics or 8k wvw badges to get 1 piece of ascended.
Making all facets of your game able to acquire ascended only makes the game better and brings in more diverse players. No one wants to stand for hours at a crafting table to get their endgame gear.

It is quite likely that they will, in the future, try to find more ways to get access to certain stuff (the weapons do drop though, so you don’t NEED to craft them), but they do need to have it balanced, which does take time.

Timchee.1237:

The current state of acquiring ascended weapons/armor limited to crafting only, is severely contrary to the core foundation this game was built on… or better put, its simply boring and linear.

Before ascended we all had a goal of doing dungeons to acquire tokens to in turn buy our exotics. This goal was obtainable to the psyche of the typical gamer because one could see the goal on the horizon. To acquire ascended gear on the other hand that very horizon view of gear (carrot on a stick) is fundamentally gone completely. Sure people have gone broke getting ascended weps, but at the cost of what? the cost was no fun and very grindy experiences. Is this the goal of the end game content and gear? This is not what makes me hungry to play more of the game.

I have just one request. At least make it fun to acquire these ascended pieces. I would gladly pay 50+ pristine relics or 8k wvw badges to get 1 piece of ascended.
Making all facets of your game able to acquire ascended only makes the game better and brings in more diverse players. No one wants to stand for hours at a crafting table to get their endgame gear.

So you would trade in what you think is a grind for what you think isn’t a grind? Crafting=Grind to you but 8k Badges or 50 Pristine Relics (per piece) is not?