I frequent the forums and Reddit, and I’m noticing a trend with Anet’s plans. People are discussing a doomsday scenario, where players with Ascended gear are now all-powerful beings. I’d like to take a moment, and provide some advice on how to counter the increase in stats to Ascended gear over Exotic gear.
Learning to Play
One thing that separates players is not what tier of gear they have equipped, but rather their ability to understand game mechanics, and playing/counter-playing a character’s abilities in battle. For example, take a Melee Guardian. All the Boons and AR in the world won’t save you if you rush in with a Hack & Slash mentality, ignoring AOE fields and not dodging powerful enemy spikes. Guild Wars 2 combat intentionally punishes players who don’t pay attention to mechanics in a fight.
In PvE, Anet does a good job teaching players how to fight bosses by giving minor fight-mechanic previews before the main event. Players have ample time to trigger dodges when a dragon is stomping, or a king frog is about to tongue lash you. In WvW, unfortunately, players learn the hard way when engaged in combat. Real players are more unpredictable than computer AI, so learning a character’s movements (tells) will give away when a particular attack is coming. Then it’s just a matter of knowing when to dodge. The more skillful you are in combat, the better off you are negating the 10% stat difference if you only have Exotic gear, and your opponent has Ascended.
Stats make you a better player?
It’s true that stats do help you when fighting in PvE and WvW. Doing more or absorbing more damage can give you advantages in combat, but that doesn’t make you a better player. If you’re able to hit another player for 500 more damage per hit than them, but are unable to connect with those hits, stat difference is meaningless. A real world example would be if you took Arnold Schwarzenegger from the 80’s and put him in a boxing match with Manny Pacquiao. It would hurt if Schwarzenegger landed a punch, but Pacquiao is so mobile (skilled), he wouldn’t even take a hit.
Do you need Ascended gear to be relevent?
No one needs Ascended gear, so don’t feel forced to get it in order to compete. Unless you can afford to pay for full Ascended gear, playing in full Exotics is fine. Focus on learning strategies to become a better player, than to be hyper focused on just equipping the BiS gear. I can speak from experience, having hailed from Maguuma in our glory days. Using our knowledge of game mechanics, our 15 man guild teams could easily wipe 30+ man enemy zergs consistently.
Skill has always, and will always be greater than having more stats.
In GW2, Trading Post plays you!