We know for a while that items of past events won`t be comming back.
With the re-introduction of the molten facility and the aetherblade dungeon into the fractals we also got the conformation that the unique items from there are not in the loottable (yet?)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/fractured/Rewards-of-Old/first#post3228355
This is a little sad to hear, because i have to ask: “Is it the right direction?”
Is limiting the access to “cool” stuff to a timeframe the right idea?
Now don`t get me wrong. Limited access to certain items are nothing new. In fact it was a great part of the original guild wars for holidays and it appears in other games as well.
Basicly these are “time-exclusive items”. You had to be there to get them.
This is usually a great idea, since you reward players who are with you from the start for sticking to the game. Playing it allows them to aquire stuff that players who jump in later won`t be getting.
In Warhammer Online you got a cool looking cape if you were part of the game for a year since the start and if you bought the original Guild Wars extensions at launch you got a special dance emote.
While it is a problem for players who come in late, it is rewarding for players who are sticking to the game and i have no problem with that.
However, for Guild Wars 2 there are two distinct differences:
- The pace of the releases
- The RNG problem.
Guild Wars 2 has a bi-weekly/monthly release cycle. Right now you have roughly a month to do the content before it will go away.
While this sounds like a long time, it depends on which part of the reward you are going for.
While we have some guaranteed rewards bound to archievments (now), we also got items as drops and hidden in monetary chests (the Black Lion Chests)
We got RNG on top of a limited timeframe, combined with a money-drain.
While the black lion chests have been changed to contain the skins of past events, other items are still “lost”, which feels wastefull.
It is a great feeling for a player to get something “rare”, however right now these items are rarer then the supposed “legendary” items.
A direction like this creates a new “market” of valueable items ingame. That is a good thing, as long as it is not too limiting to the players.
Too many limiting factors add up, making an item “rare”, but also hurting the players who try everything to get them. As soon as RNG adds up, the chances just get smaller.
The best example is the molten facility backpack, something that could have come back now.
Time + low RNG (a RNG that was shared with other low RNGs at the same time) allowed only for a limited access to the item.
The pace in which we see these items come and go is to high. Not everyone has the time or patience to redo content again and again to win against the stacks that are presented to us.
While they changed a lot of rewards, i hope they will go further. The best idea would be a “guaranteed” acountbound skin of a selection (like the finale in gw), with the chance to get “tradeable” versions through RNG.
I don`t complain about not getting something (mostly) it just feels like a waste for a lot of the items that are put ingame. There are efforts to reintroduce these elements into the game, but in my opinion they should reevaluate the buisnesstactic to fit their new pace.