Guild Wars 2

I have seen a lot of issues being stated all over the forums, but in game its the exact opposite, where are these concerns coming from?
I will respond to the biggest concerns I am seeing on these forums, (and asking for clarification.)

Grind:
I need clarification here, I have a level 80 and I am starting another character just because, I am still enjoying my 80 but I have yet to feel like I am doing a long and repetitive grind, so please, tell me What is grindy?
I see alot of people saying the dungeons in the forums, What are you grinding FOR?

Tokens to get skins? You don’t have to, they are SKINS! You are more likely going to transmutate them to get the skin but the stats of something entirely different. Even if it does feel like a grind, its not going to give you an advantage getting these skins, just make you look “cool” and I think a grind is only worth complaining about if it is the only way to gain an advantage in combat.
Ascended Gear?
Its only a couple items and I hear that the ascended items will become easier to acquire in the future, hopefully it will be much like getting exotics from Orr, and no, your effort toward acquiring the ascended items will not be wasted, its only a couple items and the rest will be made easier to find when the REST are released, so consider the two items a head start.

More exotic gear? There are Karma vendors in Orr who sell exotic gear at each temple, if you don’t want to GRIND for it, just buy exotics from them! Enjoy.

another topic,
Population
In my server there are people everywhere, some places might not be full of thousands of people outside of lions arch but there are more then enough to complete group events and world bosses, any time a world boss spawns I see an army of players on my server! Give your server time, servers have been filling up and so before too long their should be more people. Also, this is where a GUILD will be useful. ask your guildmates if you all want to hit a dungeon, world boss or just run through any zone.

ascended gear
. . . . it has no effect on pvp which is the ONLY time I personally would be concerned. If the gear makes so much of a difference that if you have the “perfect” build for your play style and full exotics and you go up against someone with ascended gear and you loose and there is absolutely NO CONCEIVABLE WAY YOU COULD BEAT THEM just because of the gear THEN I would be concerned, but there are things called “conditions” that can stun, weaken, slow or mobilize another player, take these into consideration and the fact that you can dodge makes the small difference that ascended gear might make unimportant.
Before someone says “if two players with the exact same class, skill, traits and build hit each other at the exact same time. . .” THAT NEVER HAPPENS! This isn’t World of Warcraft where a .01 point difference is a “game breaker” and you just watch animations play until someone dies, you keep moving and use strategy and skill in this game! Besides, again, it has no affect on pvp.

Anyway, once again I would like to know what the “Grind” is in here, I haven’t felt REQUIRED to run through the dungeons at this time, seems to me like the main reason why people run the dungeons is for skins or the ascended gear, if that is not true, please clarify what you are grinding for.

Alastar.2863:

I have seen a lot of issues being stated all over the forums, but in game its the exact opposite, where are these concerns coming from?
I will respond to the biggest concerns I am seeing on these forums, (and asking for clarification.)

Grind:
I need clarification here, I have a level 80 and I am starting another character just because, I am still enjoying my 80 but I have yet to feel like I am doing a long and repetitive grind, so please, tell me What is grindy?
I see alot of people saying the dungeons in the forums, What are you grinding FOR?

Tokens to get skins? You don’t have to, they are SKINS! You are more likely going to transmutate them to get the skin but the stats of something entirely different. Even if it does feel like a grind, its not going to give you an advantage getting these skins, just make you look “cool” and I think a grind is only worth complaining about if it is the only way to gain an advantage in combat.
Ascended Gear?
Its only a couple items and I hear that the ascended items will become easier to acquire in the future, hopefully it will be much like getting exotics from Orr, and no, your effort toward acquiring the ascended items will not be wasted, its only a couple items and the rest will be made easier to find when the REST are released, so consider the two items a head start.

More exotic gear? There are Karma vendors in Orr who sell exotic gear at each temple, if you don’t want to GRIND for it, just buy exotics from them! Enjoy.

another topic,
Population
In my server there are people everywhere, some places might not be full of thousands of people outside of lions arch but there are more then enough to complete group events and world bosses, any time a world boss spawns I see an army of players on my server! Give your server time, servers have been filling up and so before too long their should be more people. Also, this is where a GUILD will be useful. ask your guildmates if you all want to hit a dungeon, world boss or just run through any zone.

ascended gear
. . . . it has no effect on pvp which is the ONLY time I personally would be concerned. If the gear makes so much of a difference that if you have the “perfect” build for your play style and full exotics and you go up against someone with ascended gear and you loose and there is absolutely NO CONCEIVABLE WAY YOU COULD BEAT THEM just because of the gear THEN I would be concerned, but there are things called “conditions” that can stun, weaken, slow or mobilize another player, take these into consideration and the fact that you can dodge makes the small difference that ascended gear might make unimportant.
Before someone says “if two players with the exact same class, skill, traits and build hit each other at the exact same time. . .” THAT NEVER HAPPENS! This isn’t World of Warcraft where a .01 point difference is a “game breaker” and you just watch animations play until someone dies, you keep moving and use strategy and skill in this game! Besides, again, it has no affect on pvp.

Anyway, once again I would like to know what the “Grind” is in here, I haven’t felt REQUIRED to run through the dungeons at this time, seems to me like the main reason why people run the dungeons is for skins or the ascended gear, if that is not true, please clarify what you are grinding for.

• You mention pvp – Show me a link to your wvw or tournament videos and i will believe that you are qualified to speak with experience, and that gear doesn’t matter.

*You mention pve, please share with us your great achievements. A pic with a legendary, achieved post november will do.

*You say we should turn to Karma gear for our exotics. Karma gear has to have the worst stat combinations ever conceived in the game.

When you set a long term goal and you find the 10 mile wall straight up your face then you will understand what some of the complaints are all about.

As of now you give me the impression that you are the very definition of a casual, one who has very little understanding of the underlying dynamics of this game’s details.

Until you do, learn more about the game, you are not really qualified to give anyone advice, and neither am i for that matter, since i am not listing my sources of experience. I do, though bring up some points you should consider in understanding things a little deeper

So, you seem to be asking what’s the big deal with issues being raised around grind, population, and ascended gear. The issues have been clearly articulated and I hesitate to respond, but it’s a cloudy, cold day outside and I have little else to do.

Let’s consider the concept of gear grind. And, let’s start with a statement from the manifesto:

“So if you love MMORPGs, you should check out Guild Wars 2. But if you hate traditional MMORPGs, then you should really check out Guild Wars 2. Because, like Guild Wars before it, GW2 doesn’t fall into the traps of traditional MMORPGs. It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun[…]”

Anyone familiar with grindy games understands that GW2 is being advertized as an MMO that’s different, one that doesn’t fall into the trap of other MMO’s with tired elements like gear grinds. So, Anet has made it clear that we can expect GW2 to not have a grind.

But, with the introduction of a new tier of gear in GW2, Ascended, we have an increase in the power level and are told in the AMA that “we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve.”

But what is vertical progression? Vertical progression progresses by periodically increasing the power level of players, usually through the acquisition of a new tier of gear. This basically is what defines a gear grind or treadmill. Before the introduction of a new tier, all players are at power level X, new gear is introduced and they all hop on the treadmill. When they hop off they are at power level Y. Meanwhile the environment has also assumed power Y, so there is no relative difference between players before or after the treadmill. That’s why they call it a treadmill—no one has really gone anywhere at all. It has only given the illusion of progress while it “suck[s] your life away” while preparing to have fun at the new power level.

I see you want to minimize the introduction of vertical progression by noting that on the first 3 pieces the power difference is minimal. That fact is, the degree of the power creep in the first 3 pieces is irrelevant to the issue at hand. The issue is the introduction of vertical progression. Remember, vertical progression gives the illusion of progress by periodically increasing the power level. When you apply the stat difference to the remaining slots, Ascended will represent a significant power increase. Does it stop there? Not if Chris was telling the truth when he said that moving forward we will have vertical progression.

The problem is not really vertical progression. Many people like it for it’s illusion of progress. The problem is reconciling the promotional statements about GW2 with the introduction of vertical progression less than 3 months after release. There you have it.