No warning about ascended rings
This subject always comes up and my response is always the same. ArenaNet has intentionally trained their player base to not look for the Unique tag since it only appears on a small number of lvl 80 items. If ArenaNet actually wanted to teach people about game mechanics like this, then they would have introduced some Unique items in the lower level areas of the game. Most people will mess themselves up when they initially encounter Unique items. It would have been far kinder to have people learn things the hard way when they’re lower level and still rapidly leveling, which would help to negate much of the impact of their mistake and it would still provide a valuable learning experience.
There should definitely be a warning. The only other game I can think of that uses Unique the same way is WoW, but not everyone has played that. EQ used Lore items, so if someone came from EQ they would have no idea as an example.
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
I have no previous MMO experience so I have no idea how the word “unique” applies to every other game on the face of the planet, nor should I. In fact, my last PC game experience was Diablo 2. In that game (since we’re talking about previous experiences), you could equip two SOJ’s or 2 BK’s or 2 Nagelrings or whatever. Those were unique items where you could have two equipped.
But again, just add a bit more description. It couldn’t possibly hurt anyone to have more info.
I’d agree. Maybe text on hover… Or a confirmation prompt that states “You may only equip ONE [insert-Ascended-name-here]. Do you still want to purchase this?”
Seriously… ONE prompt when buying Ascended gear, informing people of their options wouldn’t be any more bothersome for people that know what Unique means in traditional MMO terminology.
And GW1 was developed by former-Blizzard employees that worked on Diablo 2, Starcraft, and Battle.Net. Hence why GW1’s uniques were similar to D2 uniques where it was simply a notation about “rarity” not about equippable status.
In WoW, I don’t think you’re even allowed to have two of the same unique in your inventory at once. (Which would probably cause massive headaches for ArenaNet developers to implement.)
Hence, in Warcraft it’s not as much of an issue… Since it’s not “Why can’t I equip both of these?”
It’s more “Why can’t I loot this gear?”
The issue is that Guild Wars 2 is catering to the WoW crowd now, rather than the GW1 crowd. It’s highly disappointing.
This subject always comes up and my response is always the same. ArenaNet has intentionally trained their player base to not look for the Unique tag since it only appears on a small number of lvl 80 items. If ArenaNet actually wanted to teach people about game mechanics like this, then they would have introduced some Unique items in the lower level areas of the game. Most people will mess themselves up when they initially encounter Unique items. It would have been far kinder to have people learn things the hard way when they’re lower level and still rapidly leveling, which would help to negate much of the impact of their mistake and it would still provide a valuable learning experience.
The issue here is that Ascended gear was never planned from the beginning.
ArenaNet simply noticed that a massive amount of players from other MMOs bought GW2… And then got bored.
In a failed attempt to “fix” this, they introduced Ascended gear (and with it gear-progression).
So they introduced an item rarity that was never supposed to exist and felt the need to be “cool” and add “Unique” to them.
I’m sure the discussion went like this:
“What about making these Ascended rings unique, like WoW’s high-end trinkets?”
“Oh, yeah, man! That’d be cool.”
This subject always comes up and my response is always the same. ArenaNet has intentionally trained their player base to not look for the Unique tag since it only appears on a small number of lvl 80 items. If ArenaNet actually wanted to teach people about game mechanics like this, then they would have introduced some Unique items in the lower level areas of the game. Most people will mess themselves up when they initially encounter Unique items. It would have been far kinder to have people learn things the hard way when they’re lower level and still rapidly leveling, which would help to negate much of the impact of their mistake and it would still provide a valuable learning experience.
The issue here is that Ascended gear was never planned from the beginning.
ArenaNet simply noticed that a massive amount of players from other MMOs bought GW2… And then got bored.
In a failed attempt to “fix” this, they introduced Ascended gear (and with it gear-progression).
So they introduced an item rarity that was never supposed to exist and felt the need to be “cool” and add “Unique” to them.
I’m sure the discussion went like this:
“What about making these Ascended rings unique, like WoW’s high-end trinkets?”
“Oh, yeah, man! That’d be cool.”
That makes a good bit of sense. And that conversation probably went exactly like that lol. No in depth discussion or anything, just sure why the hell not!
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
They should just change it from unique to unique equip. Problem solved.
Mesmer/Elementalist/Guardian/Necromancer/Warrior
[TC] Tarnished Coast
Unique is not a standard MMO term
Just because you’ve seen it in one or two MMOs does not make it standard. Nor is there a standard! There’s no commission that maintains a standard, and there is no one is ensuring that any standard is being followed! We have so much jargon in this genre, and for some reason people expect everyone to know what every term means in every context.
Unique means different things in different MMOs.
- In some mmo, it means you can only equip one of its kind at any given time. That’s the definition here.
- Sometimes it means that the item is truly unique, generated randomly for the player. There will never be another item with the same stats
- Sometimes it’s the opposite. Items usually contain randomly generated stats, but unique items in this MMO means the item has fixed stats (that are usually very good)
- Sometimes it means the item is simply a “Named” item. They’re special in the same way “Final Rest” is special.
In MMO’s where I’ve seen items labeled “unique,” the item also becomes soul bound on pick up. Also, if you happen to encounter a second one after gaining the first, you cannot even pick it up. Someone who played such a game would assume that if they could buy it, they could equip it.
The issue here is that Ascended gear was never planned from the beginning.
We perfectly agree on that subject. Yet the Karka Shell ring was also Unique, so it’s not just the Ascended stuff. Though to my knowledge, all of this Unique stuff didn’t exist under that massive game update that released the karka and Fractal content. So with that in mind, it’s still pretty half-baked.
The issue here is that Ascended gear was never planned from the beginning.
We perfectly agree on that subject. Yet the Karka Shell ring was also Unique, so it’s not just the Ascended stuff. Though to my knowledge, all of this Unique stuff didn’t exist under that massive game update that released the karka and Fractal content. So with that in mind, it’s still pretty half-baked.
The Karka Shell came during the horrible weekend event that launched Ascended gear.
IMHO, they introduced the Karka shell as a pseudo-Ascended. It’s kind of like the accessory version of the “Triforge Amulet.”
To be clear, the only reason there should NOT be a warning about buying multiple of the same item and it can’t prevent you from buying duplicates is the fact that it is account bound. The game has no idea which character you are buying the ring for, so how would it know whether its a duplicate or not? And warning boxes are bad enough already. I have to click yes I’m sure 100 times to get 100 icy runestones.
An option needs to be added to disable confirmation boxes, then they can go crazy with warnings without aggravating people who have no need for them
Yeah I remember the Karka Shell. That was the first time when I heard about “unique” because some people got 2 or more of them and there were threads about it in the forums. Until then I always thought “unique” had a different meaning.
When I got my Karka Shell I first thought it means that you only can get 1… but then when I read the thread I saw it meant something different(only EQUIP 1).
If it at least meant every char(or even account!) can only have 1 in the inventory or equipped then he couldn’t buy 2 or more in the first place.
These items are only Soul bound on use, until then they remain Account bound. Shouldn’t really be a problem to leave one for another character on your account.
To all the smart kittens pointing out the meaning of the word “unique”:
Why would anyone look up the meaning of an every day word at all, let alone on the GW2 wiki instead of the dictionary?
Why would anyone suspect that in GW2 the word “unique” is not just another item class label such as “rare” or “exotic”, but instead has a important but different meaning than what it has to the rest of the world?
To the rest of the world unique means “there is only one”.
That obviously does not apply to GW2 because in the game everyone can have more than one.
In GW2 it means
“there are infinitely many and you can have as many as you want, but you can wear only one at a time.”
A 30 minute timed refund feature would be nice. Buy something like that from the laurel vendor, find out something that makes you go “wait, I dont want this” and be able to immediately return it. That would fix problems like this.
although this is a a great feature and every mmo has it now a days, i don’t see anet doing this, they seem too stubborn
haven’t you guys played other MMOs though? they use the term unique also… i believe RIFT does, and i know WoW does…
(edited by Fathme.5216)
A 30 minute timed refund feature would be nice. Buy something like that from the laurel vendor, find out something that makes you go “wait, I dont want this” and be able to immediately return it. That would fix problems like this.
although this is a a great feature and every mmo has it now a days, i don’t see anet doing this, they seem too stubborn
haven’t you guys played other MMOs though? they use the term unique also… i believe RIFT does, and i know WoW does…
Refer to my earlier quote, if someone wasn’t playing Rift or WoW, they would have no idea unique means you can only equip 1, especially if it allows you to buy it. in EQ it was called Lore item.
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
A 30 minute timed refund feature would be nice. Buy something like that from the laurel vendor, find out something that makes you go “wait, I dont want this” and be able to immediately return it. That would fix problems like this.
although this is a a great feature and every mmo has it now a days, i don’t see anet doing this, they seem too stubborn
haven’t you guys played other MMOs though? they use the term unique also… i believe RIFT does, and i know WoW does…
Refer to my earlier quote, if someone wasn’t playing Rift or WoW, they would have no idea unique means you can only equip 1, especially if it allows you to buy it. in EQ it was called Lore item.
fair enough, in that case then you’re just out of luck, but i still agree there should be a resell option, the whole not knowing about unique can really be an arguement for anything, oh well i didn’t know X stat wasn’t the best for my class, why wasn’t i told… nothing is ever explained directly in the tooltip of an item, as it shouldn’t be.
The only reason I happened to know what “unique” meant in the specific context that GW2 meant it, is that I had dealt with similar items in WoW before.
Otherwise, I would have assumed “unique” meant what it actually means, in the real world, which is that the item is one of a kind. Obviously, if the item is for sale to everyone in the game, it’s not “unique” in the strictest sense, so we’re already bending the definition to mean something else. So, the next thing I would assume is that it means “there’s only one place you can get this item, it won’t be crafted or dropped in any other context.” Basically, it’s a specific “named” item, not available elsewhere.
Adding a warning, or at least a temporary refund window, would go a long way toward solving/preventing issues like this. A single, vague line among several of an item’s descriptions is not enough.
What if somebody’s cursor slipped a little, and they simply double-clicked the wrong item? Do they really need to be set back an entire month’s worth of laurels, to “teach them a lesson”? Even if you’re one of these jerks who came here only to say “It’s your fault, learn to read, you should have known” — that’s barely even relevant. It’s simply a hallmark of good design, to install failsafes against short-term lapses in judgment, or misunderstandings, from screwing over players in the long term. This happens to everyone, at some point. There’s a reason they invented the “Backspace” key, or the “Undo” feature. We didn’t earn 30-35 laurels, just to get lawyered.
(edited by Fyrebrand.4859)
To be clear, the only reason there should NOT be a warning about buying multiple of the same item and it can’t prevent you from buying duplicates is the fact that it is account bound. The game has no idea which character you are buying the ring for, so how would it know whether its a duplicate or not?
Why would you buy an ascended item with a character you have no intention of equipping it on? Unless I’m mistaken, all the Ascended gear you can buy in the game is purchased with account-bound tokens. Just switch over to the character who’s going to wear it, and buy the item. You’d have to switch over to them to get the item out of the bank, anyway.
Popping up a warning dialog if the purchasing character already possesses the unique item would save a lot of grief.
And warning boxes are bad enough already. I have to click yes I’m sure 100 times to get 100 icy runestones.
That’s different. That’s because you’re buying 100 of something, and ArenaNet decided it was a “good” idea to make people do 100 individual purchases for what is essentially one ingredient for your Legendary.
When you scrape together 3500 Laurels and need to buy 100 copies of the same Ascended ring, then you can complain about it.
An option needs to be added to disable confirmation boxes, then they can go crazy with warnings without aggravating people who have no need for them
More customization and options is always good, but what you’re suggesting could only go bad places. As soon as people disable warnings, they will lose the failsafes that could have prevented them from getting into trouble — sooner or later, they’ll make a mistake and will have no way to rectify the situation. I’m sure you’ll say “Well, it’s their own fault, they turned off the warnings.” Yeah, well thankfully we’re not playing Blame Wars 2 where the goal is to lead people into traps and spread misery and aggravation. It’s in ArenaNet’s, and the game’s, best interests to make the game as grief-free as possible.
Also, your claim that if they give the option to disable them they can “go crazy with warnings” is ridiculous and short-sighted. If they actually increased their warning messages to the degree where it actively annoyed players more, just to have them, then mass amounts of players would turn them off. Then we’d have even more problems, like the one we see in this thread.
I actually like the term “Unique Equip” and think that would settle a lot of the confusion.
I would have assumed “Unique” meant only one allowed to be bought in the first place due to past MMO experience, but it’s not safe to assume everyone playing GW2 has past MMO experience. Even if you assume all GW2 players played GW1 then the Unique term still wouldn’t be an apt description since it’s different.
Theres a warning, its called the ability to READ,,,,
The rings are all stated as UNIQUE and unique items in general…
In general…so not always? So it’s open to interpretation? Or it could mean different things in various circumstances?
When Anet also introduced ascended items, you can read it in the blog…
So to understand in-game things we must go online and search for a blog…And we’re to know that there is a blog that explains things how? Not in-game of course.
Also, the definition of unique, if it were looked up in a dictionary (as has been suggested in this thread) does not match what the GW2 definition is. The OP’s items are clearly not “unique” because he owns 2 of them. They’re in his inventory. If they were truly unique that would be impossible. In fact, to be truly unique, only 1 person can have that item because only 1 exists. See how the definitions vary?
[TTBH] [HATE], Yak’s Bend(NA)
[/quote]
So to understand in-game things we must go online and search for a blog…And we’re to know that there is a blog that explains things how? Not in-game of course.
[/quote]
Yes.
Until reading this, I had no idea that a unique item meant you could only have one. I just took it to mean it was special, like exotic, ascended or soemthing
The simplest, and most logical fix? Remove the “unique” feature altogether. Seriously, do they really think it would be game breaking for a player to have two rings/earrings with the same upgrade — of a few measly stat points each?
/boggle
I support this. I was lucky to have looked up guides on ascended items. But srsly, I do not know the unique thing till today. I only know I can’t wear both. The unique description only appears to me as like a special item, with a special name or description. They really should put some sort of warning there.
Theres a warning, its called the ability to READ,,,,
The rings are all stated as UNIQUE and unique items in general…
In general…so not always? So it’s open to interpretation? Or it could mean different things in various circumstances?
When Anet also introduced ascended items, you can read it in the blog…
So to understand in-game things we must go online and search for a blog…And we’re to know that there is a blog that explains things how? Not in-game of course.
Also, the definition of unique, if it were looked up in a dictionary (as has been suggested in this thread) does not match what the GW2 definition is. The OP’s items are clearly not “unique” because he owns 2 of them. They’re in his inventory. If they were truly unique that would be impossible. In fact, to be truly unique, only 1 person can have that item because only 1 exists. See how the definitions vary?
Yea, unique in gw1 is just a grade of weapons with special name, like those exotics in gw2 like final rest, zhaitans reach.
And there’s also stackable unique items.
OP probably should have looked up with the word Unique meant in GW2 terms. However I learned what Unique in a mmo meant through the same scenario of mistakenly buying two of the same items back in warcraft so I feel for you bro.
However I can’t help but laugh at people’s argument that terms in a video game are going to have identical definitions as their real world counterparts. So because I know what the term ‘ascended’ means I’ll automatically know how the word relates to things in GW2?
Laughable logic.
There’s no buyback? There’s buyback on (nearly) all the vendors. People make mistakes.
Though the word unique is obvious to most people that play mmos, that does not mean it is obvious to everyone.
Imo the word should be replaced with a sentence saying you can only have one ring of that certain kind attached to a character at a time, just to make it clear for them.
JAH Bless – Equal Rights and Justice for all.
Justice And Honor – Tarnished Coast.
Yup, games especially MMORPGS now these days, you have to use outside source to even have a clue about any type of meaning or how to use something or do some quest. Like mystic forge, if you never did it before you wouldn’t even have a clue how to use it.
EQ has allakhazam to tell you everything, GW2 has gw2wiki. You just don’t learn stuff ingame anymore, these games are terrible at teaching you stuff.
Yup, games especially MMORPGS now these days, you have to use outside source to even have a clue about any type of meaning or how to use something or do some quest. Like mystic forge, if you never did it before you wouldn’t even have a clue how to use it.
EQ has allakhazam to tell you everything, GW2 has gw2wiki. You just don’t learn stuff ingame anymore, these games are terrible at teaching you stuff.
I think most people are horrible at reading comprehension. Talk to Maylani, she explains the Mystic Forge quite well. The unique rings are labelled “unique.” It’s really not that hard.
Yup, games especially MMORPGS now these days, you have to use outside source to even have a clue about any type of meaning or how to use something or do some quest. Like mystic forge, if you never did it before you wouldn’t even have a clue how to use it.
EQ has allakhazam to tell you everything, GW2 has gw2wiki. You just don’t learn stuff ingame anymore, these games are terrible at teaching you stuff.
I think most people are horrible at reading comprehension. Talk to Maylani, she explains the Mystic Forge quite well. The unique rings are labelled “unique.” It’s really not that hard.
Except that unique had a different definition in Guild Wars 1. Why would someone who played Guild Wars 1 assume the definition has changed?
Today I received the healing signet from Anet support as a replacement ring. Thanks to Anet for helping me out. I really appreciate it.
Israel, thank you for updating this thread. I, for one, was curious as to what would happen. I’m glad that it worked out!
Today I received the healing signet from Anet support as a replacement ring. Thanks to Anet for helping me out. I really appreciate it.
It’s good to know that Anet now has a ring-replacement program out there! Spread the news!
I am Fleeting Flash, in-game dungeon cosplayer of Reddit Refugees [RR] .
Today I received the healing signet from Anet support as a replacement ring. Thanks to Anet for helping me out. I really appreciate it.
Good move by Anet, and good for you too
RIP my fair Engi and Ranger, you will be missed.
Until I saw this thread, I had never even SEEN the word unique in game or was aware of what it was or what it might result in. I’ve also never seen any mention of the wiki thing either. I guess that’s what happens when your game is poorly documented and players are forced to produce their own documentation in the form of a wiki. It is laziness and cheapness to force that onto the playerbase.
I am really happy for you. :-)
They didn’t mention to change the description? ^^
Until I saw this thread, I had never even SEEN the word unique in game or was aware of what it was or what it might result in. I’ve also never seen any mention of the wiki thing either. I guess that’s what happens when your game is poorly documented and players are forced to produce their own documentation in the form of a wiki. It is laziness and cheapness to force that onto the playerbase.
Or it is an incentive and encourages people to experiment, explore, think and communicate instead of being lazy. The item has “unique” in its description. Others don’t. If you don’t know what that means, ask in chat. Doesn’t require any external source of information.
I am really happy for you. :-)
They didn’t mention to change the description? ^^
No they didn’t mention anything about changing the description to me.
Dyes are unique too, yet they get a warning when you try to add a second you already own, funnily something so much harder to attain does not, gotta wonder why?
Unique is meaningless without a description of what it is supposed to be unique to.
Unique to what? To the game? To the character? To the account?
Unique isn’t the only poor tooltip description you’ll find in GW2. There are plenty of confusing and unclear tooltips in traits, items and abilities.
I actually agree with this. Months back when I first got my ascended rings, I was lucky to have been told of this by some helpful fractals teammates. The term “Unique” by itself doesn’t really tell you that you can equip only one of it.
Buying rings with Laurels?! Seriously? If you run fotm lvl 10 ten times you’ll have enough pristine relics to buy yourself a ring. Also if you try to progress each day you should be @ lvl 20 after 10 runs. You can easily get from 2 to 10 in 1 or 2 days by puging lvl 10. Then try to always pug higher lvl than you currently are so you progress every day. Afer 10 days you should be able to get 1 pristine relic from tier 10-19 and 20-29 and from this point you can get 2 pristine relics per day. It will take you 15 days to get both rings if you’re very unlucky with chests..
Buying rings with Laurels?! Seriously? If you run fotm lvl 10 ten times you’ll have enough pristine relics to buy yourself a ring. Also if you try to progress each day you should be @ lvl 20 after 10 runs. You can easily get from 2 to 10 in 1 or 2 days by puging lvl 10. Then try to always pug higher lvl than you currently are so you progress every day. Afer 10 days you should be able to get 1 pristine relic from tier 10-19 and 20-29 and from this point you can get 2 pristine relics per day. It will take you 15 days to get both rings if you’re very unlucky with chests..
Maybe some people don’t like fractals. I do, but some people don’t. The reason they’re offering this stuff in different formats, is to satisfy different areas of the player base.
In most games, the ONLY way to get BIS gear is to do the top level raid. In Guild Wars 2, you don’t have to run fractals to get BIS gear. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.
Buying rings with Laurels?! Seriously? If you run fotm lvl 10 ten times you’ll have enough pristine relics to buy yourself a ring. Also if you try to progress each day you should be @ lvl 20 after 10 runs. You can easily get from 2 to 10 in 1 or 2 days by puging lvl 10. Then try to always pug higher lvl than you currently are so you progress every day. Afer 10 days you should be able to get 1 pristine relic from tier 10-19 and 20-29 and from this point you can get 2 pristine relics per day. It will take you 15 days to get both rings if you’re very unlucky with chests..
Maybe some people don’t like fractals. I do, but some people don’t. The reason they’re offering this stuff in different formats, is to satisfy different areas of the player base.
In most games, the ONLY way to get BIS gear is to do the top level raid. In Guild Wars 2, you don’t have to run fractals to get BIS gear. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.
70 Laurels. That’s minimum 50 days of dailies ( this includes monthy bonus x2 ). You can get it in fractals within 15 days ( or faster if u progress to lvl 30 and higher, lets pick casual approach) Even if hated fractals I’d do them to get both rings 35 days faster.
Buying rings with Laurels?! Seriously? If you run fotm lvl 10 ten times you’ll have enough pristine relics to buy yourself a ring. Also if you try to progress each day you should be @ lvl 20 after 10 runs. You can easily get from 2 to 10 in 1 or 2 days by puging lvl 10. Then try to always pug higher lvl than you currently are so you progress every day. Afer 10 days you should be able to get 1 pristine relic from tier 10-19 and 20-29 and from this point you can get 2 pristine relics per day. It will take you 15 days to get both rings if you’re very unlucky with chests..
Maybe some people don’t like fractals. I do, but some people don’t. The reason they’re offering this stuff in different formats, is to satisfy different areas of the player base.
In most games, the ONLY way to get BIS gear is to do the top level raid. In Guild Wars 2, you don’t have to run fractals to get BIS gear. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all.
70 Laurels. That’s minimum 50 days of dailies ( this includes monthy bonus x2 ). You can get it in fractals within 15 days ( or faster if u progress to lvl 30 and higher, lets pick casual approach) Even if hated fractals I’d do them to get both rings 35 days faster.
I won’t do anything in the game I hate doing. Because it’s a game. I don’t invest time to get stuff faster, because I know me. I’d stop playing. Why play something I don’t enjoy to get a higher stat faster. It’s not like I can’t do the stuff I want with the stats I have now. In fact, I haven’t particularly noticed a huge different at all having ascended gear and not having it. So for a difference I can at best marginally notice, I should sacrifice hours of my leisure time?
Or just do the daily which I usually get anyway, and a couple of monthlies and have the stuff when I happen to get it.
If you’re not doing fractals in the first place, what’s the rush?
Plus you have to grind fractals. Doing dailies/monthlies may take longer, but you actually don’t have to play much, just login and complete that stuff which doesn’t take long.
Buying rings with Laurels?! Seriously? If you run fotm lvl 10 ten times you’ll have enough pristine relics to buy yourself a ring. Also if you try to progress each day you should be @ lvl 20 after 10 runs. You can easily get from 2 to 10 in 1 or 2 days by puging lvl 10. Then try to always pug higher lvl than you currently are so you progress every day. Afer 10 days you should be able to get 1 pristine relic from tier 10-19 and 20-29 and from this point you can get 2 pristine relics per day. It will take you 15 days to get both rings if you’re very unlucky with chests..
I don’t run dungeons.