Guild Wars 2

I’m looking forward to hearing more from ANet about where they’re taking the game. It’s my hope that —having chosen to try to please the gear grinders -- they will try to also please the gear grind avoiders. This would pretty much require avoiding gear-check content. After all, if content requires Ascended gear, that would pretty much destroy the “Ascended isn’t needed” counter-argument.

I’ve looked at a few “build videos” trying to get a grasp of what I may need for certain PVE content, only to be somewhat dismayed at all the Purple stuff I’m gonna need … sorry, not gonna happen!

GW2 is a game I enjoy playing, at the moment.

Gear is needed for PvE?

Maybe someone should tell these guys:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Simin-vs-5-Naked-Double-Bow-Rangers/2995257

Mourningcry.9428:

Gear is needed for PvE?

Maybe someone should tell these guys:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Simin-vs-5-Naked-Double-Bow-Rangers/2995257

I’m not thinking that Simin is too good an example personally, of content that’s hard or not hard. That entire fight is 100% down to technique. I’ve not seen a party wipe on that fight. I’ve hardly seen people go down on that fight. The fight is a race to get the sparks in fast enough so she doesn’t heal.

I’m confused why you’re so concerned over something that you admit to not even being an issue in the game right now. Sheesh, you’re acting like you’re getting booted from groups because you don’t have a legendary or something. I’m not saying you don’t have a valid concern, I just don’t get why it seems to be such a hugely volatile topic for you.

I don’t know how anyone could distinguish content “made for ascended gear” anyways. It has been proven time and time again that even when Anet makes hard content, there is always going to be players that surprise them. Recent examples would be Liadri and Tequatl. They said they didn’t expect either of those to be beaten so quickly by the amount of players that beat them. Even if your worst fear comes true and they design something for only the highest tier of gear, it doesn’t mean people in exotics won’t be able to do it.

Mr Quinn.9815:

I’ve looked at a few “build videos” trying to get a grasp of what I may need for certain PVE content, only to be somewhat dismayed at all the Purple stuff I’m gonna need … sorry, not gonna happen!

GW2 is a game I enjoy playing, at the moment.

If you watch a build video, you’re going to see what that person has. If that person has a legendary (what I assume you mean by purple gear) you’re going to see it. I don’t think there’s a build in existence that requires you to use a legendary. I’m not sure how you come to that conclusion.

Vayne.8563:

I’m not thinking that Simin is too good an example personally, of content that’s hard or not hard. That entire fight is 100% down to technique. I’ve not seen a party wipe on that fight. I’ve hardly seen people go down on that fight. The fight is a race to get the sparks in fast enough so she doesn’t heal.

The point I was trying to convey, in a lighthearted but sincere way, was that there is little to no content outside of Fractals which is at all gear dependent.

Gear serves as an enabler – increasing survivability and damage output in the most basic sense. Ascended gear, outside of AR, simply provides more. Without it, content may take longer, or be more risky.

As you stated, and is applicable to numerous other situations, is that technique is the differentiating factor.

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

In the end, content will have to be created so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Ascended gear. Those who are new or have alts will just have to work a bit harder or spend a bit more time to get through the content.

This is how vertical “progression” always works out in the end.

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

In the end, content will have to be created so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Ascended gear. Those who are new or have alts will just have to work a bit harder or spend a bit more time to get through the content.

This is how vertical “progression” always works out in the end.

I agree that Ascended gear will make content too easy but I am a long an loyal customer and I refuse to get Ascended gear.
The game should never be balanced around Ascended as a whole because of the time sink and the resources involved to get it- it severely punishes new players- nevermind alts.
A game should never be about preparing to have fun.

Unfortunately they now opened the box by releasing Ascended and more Ascended and even if they make content specifically for this gear it will exclude everyone else.

Personally I still think it should never be seen outside of Fractals- make high level Fractals gear dependent and tune for that- leave PvE and WvW out of it

Urghh- these are exactly the issues that where raised in the beginning and now here we are up the creek with out a paddle

Does Tequatl and upcoming dragons count?
I could be wrong, but beating Tequatl seems to require a most of the players (the frontliners) using potions and food buffs as a crutch since they don’t have ascended weapons (ie. not enough dps).

BlueZone.4236:

Does Tequatl and upcoming dragons count?
I could be wrong, but beating Tequatl seems to require a most of the players (the frontliners) using potions and food buffs as a crutch since they don’t have ascended weapons (ie. not enough dps).

hmmm interesting
Personally I don’t think Teq counts since there is more to that fight than DPS and as you said potions and food.
The Gauntlet was the same to an extent because you altered your build and used food to make up the gaps.
I was more thinking along the lines of a gimmick mechanic that cannot be avoided or bypassed with skill and/or teamwork

Mr Quinn.9815:

I’ve looked at a few “build videos” trying to get a grasp of what I may need for certain PVE content, only to be somewhat dismayed at all the Purple stuff I’m gonna need … sorry, not gonna happen!

GW2 is a game I enjoy playing, at the moment.

At least you are in a guild where purple stuff will never be a requirement

As for me, I play the content I enjoy and there is enough of that to keep me busy for a long time, regardless of Legendaries, Ascendeds or a garden hoe. The fortnightly Living World content stuff certainly provides that!

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

tl;dr – the hardcore grinders will cry if you don’t.

That sounds like an excellent reason to kamikaze your game by alienating the majority of your playerbase. Because it’s always an excellent idea to cater to the hardcore grinders; that never backfires.

If they do keep deciding to increase the “power cap”, be it through whatever, they will definitely run into the problem of a player receiving an easy, unfulfilling game experience after putting in a lot of ‘work’ in attaining all those stats.

This is a very tricky road they’re heading towards.

If they begin to balance the game for ascended gear, I’m outa here. A lot of people that I know will be too.

I whole heartedly agree to this. Balancing should always be on exotic level, which is easy enough for most people to access.

Vayne.8563:

I second this. If you must have vertical progression in the game, keep it optional.

Agreed, but with the spread of Ascended gear into ever more areas, I think it’s only a matter of time before ArenaNet starts hearing “OMG THIS GAEM IZ 2 EZ!” from people in full Ascended, and starts thinking about how to challenge those people.

Why would they suddenly change this?
The game has been out for over a year, and it is still not balanced to require Exotic or even Rare gear, so why would it suddenly start requiring Ascended?

I think we can all agree on this. In all reality, no content should require anything above Rare gear. Exotic should give you an advantage, and Ascended should give you even more of an advantage, but Rare gear should be the default difficulty.

Tolmos.8395:

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

tl;dr – the hardcores will cry if you don’t.

That sounds like an excellent reason to kamikaze your game by alienating the majority of your playerbase. Because it’s always an excellent idea to cater to the hardcores; that never backfires.

Tolmos, I get what you mean, and agree.

But let’s put these so-called “hardcores” in their proper category – they are hardcore “grinders”, not hardcore competitive players. A hardcore grinder is all about loot (gold), unique gear (posing) and having a stat advantage over others (an unfair edge). While a hardcore competitive player is all about skill and despises stat advantages because he wants level-playing field (or as close as you can get to it). The former is primarily only a measure of time spent in-game doing easy repetitive tasks (like farming the easiest path of the fastest dungeon or WvW 5 on 1 ganking), – while the latter purposefully seeks difficulty to test his skills.

Never confuse a hardcore grinder with a skilled competitive player – they are not one in the same.

A defensive gearcheck cannot really happen because every damage source is avoidable. Even if it were unavoidable, different classes have different base armors and health pools so any damage source that would requiere a elementalist to wear ascendeds wouldn’t be enough for a warrior (the opposite would kill the ele over and over). Not gonna happen.
Offensive gearchecks, like hard enrage timers, are not going to happen because the game is not balanced around each class achieving the same damage output. A soft timer could be possible, but it would easily beatable without ascendeds as long as the game doesn’t force players to choose gear/traits for full offense.

The only way to see ascendeds required (or highly encouraged at least) is through Agony Resistance (or another infusion related defensive stat, which I doubt is going to happen since it would force player to have pointless duplicated gear), which seems something limited to fractals.

I too worry they’re going to balance PvE content around ascended gear. Fractals, sure, but other dungeons? I play with a fair few casuals. My guild often does dungeon runs with new players and people that aren’t even in exotics yet. I don’t want to be separated from my guildies. Ascended’s account bound nature would make the divide even worse because i wouldn’t even be able to craft it for my guildies who can’t play every day.

Nothing will ever be balanced around ascended gear. Why you ask?

Because Anet couldn’t balance a fight that tightly if they tried. They are simply not good enough at designing fights for it to ever come down to such a small difference in stats.

The only mechanics they are really good at is “add a timer and more hp”, which will always depend far more on rotations, traits and gear set ups then it will on the stats of the gear.

Never make content too hard for rares.

I think it’d be hard to make any content in this game too hard for any 80 gear. They’d need to add something unconventional, like Agony.

Eurhetemec.9052:

Vayne.8563:

I second this. If you must have vertical progression in the game, keep it optional.

Agreed, but with the spread of Ascended gear into ever more areas, I think it’s only a matter of time before ArenaNet starts hearing “OMG THIS GAEM IZ 2 EZ!” from people in full Ascended, and starts thinking about how to challenge those people.

People have been saying that for ages. Even before ascended was mentioned.

Just saying, exotics would be enough for clearing fractals too.

What makes mandatory Ascended gear are the Infusion slots – not that joke of stat bump.

The game isn’t even balanced to requiring Rares. They can increase difficulty through mechanics, and not through needing more + Stats

Ision.3207:

Tolmos.8395:

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

tl;dr – the hardcores will cry if you don’t.

That sounds like an excellent reason to kamikaze your game by alienating the majority of your playerbase. Because it’s always an excellent idea to cater to the hardcores; that never backfires.

Tolmos, I get what you mean, and agree.

But let’s put these so-called “hardcores” in their proper category – they are hardcore “grinders”, not hardcore competitive players. A hardcore grinder is all about loot (gold), unique gear (posing) and having a stat advantage over others (an unfair edge). While a hardcore competitive player is all about skill and despises stat advantages because he wants level-playing field (or as close as you can get to it). The former is primarily only a measure of time spent in-game doing easy repetitive tasks (like farming the easiest path of the fastest dungeon or WvW 5 on 1 ganking), – while the latter purposefully seeks difficulty to test his skills.

Never confuse a hardcore grinder with a skilled competitive player – they are not one in the same.

Fair enough; I stand corrected. I shouldn’t have lumped all hardcores into the same boat.

Agree with this.

Tolmos.8395:

Ision.3207:

Tolmos.8395:

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

tl;dr – the hardcores will cry if you don’t.

That sounds like an excellent reason to kamikaze your game by alienating the majority of your playerbase. Because it’s always an excellent idea to cater to the hardcores; that never backfires.

Tolmos, I get what you mean, and agree.

But let’s put these so-called “hardcores” in their proper category – they are hardcore “grinders”, not hardcore competitive players. A hardcore grinder is all about loot (gold), unique gear (posing) and having a stat advantage over others (an unfair edge). While a hardcore competitive player is all about skill and despises stat advantages because he wants level-playing field (or as close as you can get to it). The former is primarily only a measure of time spent in-game doing easy repetitive tasks (like farming the easiest path of the fastest dungeon or WvW 5 on 1 ganking), – while the latter purposefully seeks difficulty to test his skills.

Never confuse a hardcore grinder with a skilled competitive player – they are not one in the same.

Fair enough; I stand corrected. I shouldn’t have lumped all hardcores into the same boat.

Oh no, no need to stand corrected, your original post was spot on. It just that the word “hardcore” has been hijacked by grinders to denote skilled players, when in fact, grinders are anything but.

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Why exclude fractals? It shouldn’t have had gear gating to begin with…

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Agreed, most people simply take the game as it comes. That said, there are casual players who prefer Vertical progression and there are casual players who prefer Horizontal progression. So there are 2 different preferences for how a game should handle progression. Likewise there are 2 different types of players that are hardcore; there are the hardcore grinders, and the hardcore skill players.

Ision.3207:

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Agreed, most people simply take the game as it comes. And there are casual players who prefer Vertical progression and there are casual players who prefer Horizontal progression. So there are 2 different preferences for how a game should handle progression. Likewise there are 2 different types of players that are hardcore; there are the hardcore grinders, and the hardcore skill players.

I don’t think most players have any concept of how to do horizontal progression and why it’s better.

Vertical progression to me leads to gated content and a slow death of a game.

I agree with the OP. I would rather have easier fights in PvE than ‘challenges’ that are just disguising a gear grind.

Hawkian.6580:

Never make content too hard for rares.

In general, I think this is a good idea but it depends on the content. Some people want more challenging content. Of course, there are ways to do this without requiring people to be fully geared (Mad King’s Clock Tower comes to mind). The other important point is that if there is more difficult content requiring better gear it should NEVER gate the story or lore, that is something that everyone, even people with nothing but rares, or even blues, should be able to experience.

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Since the majority is neither wanting (or not wanting) horizontal or vertical progression, let’s do horizontal.

DoctorOverlord.8620:

I agree with the OP. I would rather have easier fights in PvE than ‘challenges’ that are just disguising a gear grind.

Hawkian.6580:

Never make content too hard for rares.

In general, I think this is a good idea but it depends on the content. Some people want more challenging content. Of course, there are ways to do this without requiring people to be fully geared (Mad King’s Clock Tower comes to mind). The other important point is that if there is more difficult content requiring better gear it should NEVER gate the story or lore, that is something that everyone, even people with nothing but rares, or even blues, should be able to experience.

If those are the requirements then FotM is perfect.
You don’t even have to be lv80!

Aren’t dungeons and PvE in general balanced around Rares (Yellows) of the level the content is?
When did they change it to be balanced to Exotic levels?

Onshidesigns.1069:

Ision.3207:

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Agreed, most people simply take the game as it comes. And there are casual players who prefer Vertical progression and there are casual players who prefer Horizontal progression. So there are 2 different preferences for how a game should handle progression. Likewise there are 2 different types of players that are hardcore; there are the hardcore grinders, and the hardcore skill players.

I don’t think most players have any concept of how to do horizontal progression and why it’s better.

Vertical progression to me leads to gated content and a slow death of a game.

Ya we saw how short WoW was am I right? That game died so fast because of Vertical progression.

Ahlen.7591:

Onshidesigns.1069:

Ision.3207:

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Agreed, most people simply take the game as it comes. And there are casual players who prefer Vertical progression and there are casual players who prefer Horizontal progression. So there are 2 different preferences for how a game should handle progression. Likewise there are 2 different types of players that are hardcore; there are the hardcore grinders, and the hardcore skill players.

I don’t think most players have any concept of how to do horizontal progression and why it’s better.

Vertical progression to me leads to gated content and a slow death of a game.

Ya we saw how short WoW was am I right? That game died so fast because of Vertical progression.

Once again I have to agree with Ahlen. Despite the fashionable trend to bash WoW, it really was/is a wonderful game, especially for folks that are ultra casual or hardcore grinders. Of course there was always a segment of the WoW player base that wanted a true 100% skilled based horizontal progression game, and quite a few of those folks migrated to GW2 based on that idea (as well as from many other mmos). Ironically, less than 3 months after release GW2 followed in the footsteps of WoW and added a grindy VP – funny that.

Oh well, such is life – maybe another company will create a game with horizontal progression as a core principle and actually stick with it. Until then, I’ll make the best of this game, which at least has no must-have classes (trinity) and wonderful graphics going for it.

Ision.3207:

Ahlen.7591:

Onshidesigns.1069:

Ision.3207:

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Agreed, most people simply take the game as it comes. And there are casual players who prefer Vertical progression and there are casual players who prefer Horizontal progression. So there are 2 different preferences for how a game should handle progression. Likewise there are 2 different types of players that are hardcore; there are the hardcore grinders, and the hardcore skill players.

I don’t think most players have any concept of how to do horizontal progression and why it’s better.

Vertical progression to me leads to gated content and a slow death of a game.

Ya we saw how short WoW was am I right? That game died so fast because of Vertical progression.

Once again I have to agree with Ahlen. Despite the fashionable trend to bash WoW, it really was/is a wonderful game, especially for folks that like vertical progression and ultra casual grinders. Of course there was always a segment of the WoW player base that wanted a true 100% skilled based horizontal progression game, and quite a few of those folks migrated to GW2 based on that idea (as well as from many other mmos). Ironically, less than 3 months after release GW2 followed in the footsteps of WoW and added a grindy VP – funny that.

Oh well, such is life – maybe another company will create a game with horizontal progression as a core principle and actually stick with it. Until then, I’ll make the best of this game, which at least has no must-have classes (trinity) and wonderful graphics going for it.

At least WoW did their gear grind right.

Having so much godkitten RNG and the absolutely ridiculous amount of time-gated materials for Ascended gear is absolutely astonishingly bad.

With WoW you can run content and get drops, or you can do other things to make real progress towards the next gear tier. ANet does NOT understand how to make that next level of gear attainable in a reasonable manner.

Time Glitch.2460:

At least WoW did their gear grind right.

Having so much godkitten RNG and the absolutely ridiculous amount of time-gated materials for Ascended gear is absolutely astonishingly bad.

With WoW you can run content and get drops, or you can do other things to make real progress towards the next gear tier. ANet does NOT understand how to make that next level of gear attainable in a reasonable manner.

Have you ever run fractals? I genuinely ask because it sounds like you have complaints over the idea of it, but don’t have first hand experience. Ascended trinkets are ridiculously easy to get, and they were even before they opened them up to WvW. When my alt hit 80 I was able to get everything but the back piece just from what I had in the bank. Running fractals will get you so many rings you start vendoring them. Guild missions gets you easy earrings. You probably have tons of laurels which you could also spend for amulets and earrings.

While I don’t agree with some of the points of this argument, I can understand the position. That is not the case when you say ascended gear is stupidly hard and random to get. To me that is the opinion of someone who is not fully informed, and they’re knowledge of fractals and ascended items only comes from what they’ve built up in their head.

My comments are obviously about trinkets, as it seems like you were talking about progression in fractals for which you don’t need weapons.

Ahlen.7591:

Onshidesigns.1069:

Ision.3207:

Ahlen.7591:

I really doubt the horizontal progress people are the ‘majority’ of the playerbase.

The majority of the playerbase is people who don’t fall into the hardcore OR horizontal groups.

Agreed, most people simply take the game as it comes. And there are casual players who prefer Vertical progression and there are casual players who prefer Horizontal progression. So there are 2 different preferences for how a game should handle progression. Likewise there are 2 different types of players that are hardcore; there are the hardcore grinders, and the hardcore skill players.

I don’t think most players have any concept of how to do horizontal progression and why it’s better.

Vertical progression to me leads to gated content and a slow death of a game.

Ya we saw how short WoW was am I right? That game died so fast because of Vertical progression.

You’re talking about two different types of players here. Statistically, the type of player who sticks to WoW is going to be someone whose first MMO was WoW, and generally are not the type to hop to other games. Its longevity cannot be measured in by whether their formula is any good for the current times. The formula, once upon a time, was great- in a time where grinding until your eyes bled was what MMOs were all about. Now, it’s about nostalgia and comfort in what you know.

Long story short, you won’t recreate WoW’s success in this day and age by copying WoW’s formula. If its empirical evidence you want, then compare the countless WoW clones that have released in the past decade and their “success”. Each and every one flounders.

WoW is WoW. Being WoW = being successful and wealthy. Trying to be like WoW = sure death for your game.

Khisanth.2948:

If those are the requirements then FotM is perfect.
You don’t even have to be lv80!

FotM is one of the systems that seems to be work well in GW2. I like that the skill level varies, so people who are not hardcore can still see those amazingly well done dungeons while people who want to go for difficult challenges can get a challenge from it as well.

I think one reason why FotM works so well is that players get to pick a variable difficulty level of the content based on what they want. The problem with open-world content like Temple of Balth and the revamped Teq is that the difficulty is chosen by the game. That is different from allowing players to pick the difficulty (and commensurate rewards).

Even the Personal Story suffers from this lack of player choice in difficulty setting even though it ought to be straightforward for the GW2 engine to allow players to pick the difficulty setting for their story, just as one might for a single player game.

I am going to weigh in here from what I read dev posts Ascended, and infusions will be needed eventually outside of Fractals and in PvE. Anyone who has played the first game know of the Mursaat. Mursaat had been hinted occasionally here and there and especially when ascended and infusions first came out. Spectral Agony will make a return, and ascended gear will be needed to fight them eventually. I am just speculating from all the hints and what I have read about ascended gear when it was first announced and a few other scattered posts where Anet was asked about the Mursaat where they said “No comment :P” with that emoticon. So strong possibility that the Mursaat will return especially since the Isle of Janthir is labeled on the map.

I recall them saying Agony was a mechanic only for Fractals. The play on Infusions and Ascended are just nostalgia from GW1 and are not tying back to the Lore in any way.

If Agony became a regular game mechanic there would be a horrible uproar. Also consider that ascended trinkets obtained via laurels and guild commendations cannot be upgraded in the MF to receive +5 agony resistance. Only Fractal trinkets can do that.

Things can always change, and ANet can design other ways to obtain agony resistance, but it’s suppose to be a gating mechanic. Do we really want a gear-based gating mechanic on our content?

Ision.3207:

Tolmos.8395:

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

tl;dr – the hardcores will cry if you don’t.

That sounds like an excellent reason to kamikaze your game by alienating the majority of your playerbase. Because it’s always an excellent idea to cater to the hardcores; that never backfires.

Tolmos, I get what you mean, and agree.

But let’s put these so-called “hardcores” in their proper category – they are hardcore “grinders”, not hardcore competitive players. A hardcore grinder is all about loot (gold), unique gear (posing) and having a stat advantage over others (an unfair edge). While a hardcore competitive player is all about skill and despises stat advantages because he wants level-playing field (or as close as you can get to it). The former is primarily only a measure of time spent in-game doing easy repetitive tasks (like farming the easiest path of the fastest dungeon or WvW 5 on 1 ganking), – while the latter purposefully seeks difficulty to test his skills.

Never confuse a hardcore grinder with a skilled competitive player – they are not one in the same.

I love you for this post, seriously.

Morrigan.2809:

Ision.3207:

Tolmos.8395:

Lord Kuru.3685:

If they tailor content so that it’s of the correct difficulty for Exotics then it will be too easy with Ascended. Those with Ascended gear are Anet’s loyal and longtime customers (you wouldn’t have Ascended gear if this weren’t true). They will complain loudly.

tl;dr – the hardcores will cry if you don’t.

That sounds like an excellent reason to kamikaze your game by alienating the majority of your playerbase. Because it’s always an excellent idea to cater to the hardcores; that never backfires.

Tolmos, I get what you mean, and agree.

But let’s put these so-called “hardcores” in their proper category – they are hardcore “grinders”, not hardcore competitive players. A hardcore grinder is all about loot (gold), unique gear (posing) and having a stat advantage over others (an unfair edge). While a hardcore competitive player is all about skill and despises stat advantages because he wants level-playing field (or as close as you can get to it). The former is primarily only a measure of time spent in-game doing easy repetitive tasks (like farming the easiest path of the fastest dungeon or WvW 5 on 1 ganking), – while the latter purposefully seeks difficulty to test his skills.

Never confuse a hardcore grinder with a skilled competitive player – they are not one in the same.

I love you for this post, seriously.

Well I’m not going to say, “I love you too” …. lol

But I will say, thank you.

:-)