Guild Wars 2

Bruno Sardine.2907:

krookie.6378:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Raine.1394:

Yes. As mentioned in the marketing literature, GW2 takes all that is good from GW1. In GW1 it was easy to get the best gear in the game because GW1 was not a grindy game and Anet doesn’t make grindy games. (Haha.) So, the same should be true of GW2.

Whomever said GW1 had no grind in it didn’t want Obsidian Armor, or the Treasure Hunter title.

No they weren’t required to progress, and they had barely any effect on the game play. (I think Treasure Hunter affected Lockpick break chance, but in HM it could only approach 50% chance to retain.)

Obsidian armor was optional. It didn’t have better stats and was basically a status symbol. Sort of like legendaries are in GW2. Ascended gear and the grind that goes with it are going to become mandatory pretty fast.

Right now, with only 3 slots having ascended items, it’s no big deal. But when the rest of the slots get ascended items, the combined stat boost will pretty much guarantee the necessity of having ascended gear in order to remain relevant in dungeons and WvW.

Based on…. ???

As far as I can tell nothing has been scaled to factor in Ascended gear.

Yes, I suppose fractals with agony ratings do factor in Ascended gear, but more for the agony res than the +stats.

In terms of WvW, I would ask if someone could produce a good survey of gear folks are wearing in WvW. I bet that while you have a good portion of level 80s in some exotics (if not full exotics), the majority of your base is not lvl 80 and likely has greens/blues…. How many people are we expecting and in what timeframe to get Ascended gear? When does this gear “shift the balance”, when 10% of a server has guys in Ascended gear? 20%? What kind of time will that take? Will the competition in the meantime get more skilled and more geared (in levels, rares, and exotics)? When the Ascended gear becomes available for WvW, how long will it take those folks to get gear via WvW? Does the gear shift the balance any more than what’s currently present with a certain mix of lvl 80s in exotics against lvl 80s and non-lvl 80s in blues/greens?

As far as I can tell, nothing is mandatory. There was no mandatory need to get exotics or to level 80 before Ascended gear, yet somehow Ascended gear has somehow changed this point.

It’s an educated guess based on other games that followed a similar direction. Of course nothing is scaled to ascended gear now, we only have 3 slots.

Look at the prime example: WoW. When that game first launched, epic gear was extremely rare to a point of being irrelevant. However, as the game progressed and more and more people got epics, newer content began to be designed around epics until people started getting excluded from content due to lack of gear.

Right now is the best time to voice our concern, since the issue is still in it’s infancy. If we simply dismiss it because it’s a non issue now, it will grow into a problem.

krookie.6378:

Ignoring the issue is not going to make it go away. Especially when future game content is bound to be balanced around these elitists with their ascended gear.

Like I said before, we’re only at the beginning and it’s easy to ignore 3 slots right now. However, when people are running around with full ascended sets and weapons and all dungeons are designed with some cheap gating mechanics, like this agony thing, then it’ll be too late to say anything. I’ve seen it before.

I’ve seen it before too. I played EverQuest. Slotted items, augmentations . . . keys which were the result on if you were lucky on the /random roll in the raid to get one piece attended by 20-30 people . . . yeah, we’re not that far into a throwback. Count your blessings.

It’s easy to ignore 3 slots, because the Back slot was practically unused until now (practically unused! There were options but they cost a lot to exercise). And I don’t think you’re entirely clear on what Agony is. It starts after Fractal Difficutly 10, and is attached to certain enemy attacks. Which can, far as I have seen, be dodged/evaded. The dungeon itself is not gated, the “Hard Mode” is. Which is the same thing GW1 did with its Hard Mode – you had to beat the campaign to access its Hard Mode. And you really, REALLY had to know what you were doing or you’d die. A lot.

(Or, well, get a set of heroes set up in specific ways and turn Hard Mode into Loot Pinata Mode. This still took some minimum level of skill to do without screwing it up though.)

Also, I’m going to reflect your argument back at you. I don’t know what the game is going to be balanced to in the future. Do you? I don’t know how unbalancing full Ascended is going to be . . . do you? Is there some infallible crystal ball you’re looking into? Cause I could use some lottery numbers. (4,8,15,16,23,42 by the way)

On the flip side? It could be worse, it could be that newer content takes into account stuff they just added into balancing features. It could be that we have to race to keep up with a gear treadmill just to take part in the new content. If that happens, I’ll be right there behind you going “so long and thanks for all the karka” as I boot up my copy of Nethack to remind me of what unfair really is.

Hydrophidian.4319:

Jski.6180:

True but your looking for it non the less. To make a game that just hands you every thing will be dead with in a month that why there are no more games like that other then the 6hr story games and even they have some build in “work for something.”

I played a game for 8 years that didn’t subscribe to this mentality. When I maxed out a character, got the build to where I wanted it, that character was done. I then went and did other things. Like, for example, making a new character (I had 36 of them by the time it was all over). I also built a guild, I designed in-game spaces, I PvPed, I played the market, collected titles, wrote content, and roleplayed.

In 8 years, my main was “upgraded” twice, and those weren’t even entirely vertical upgrades.

The mentality you’re describing just isn’t universal.

Agreed… there were a lot of avenues to explore without going vertical, but they weren’t explored (at least not that we’re aware of). I know there were tons of interesting suggestions/discussions on this forum for all sorts of progression schemes that didn’t involve gear upgrading/incentives. One of my favorites was driving the post-Zhaitan story through content and having servers be unique based on actions they took collectively (and consequences unfolding within their servers); maybe a little ambitious in scope, but certainly a neat idea.

It should be obtainable doing things we enjoy. I hate doing dungeons so I am at a huge disadvantage now in wvwvw.

Columba.9730:

It should be obtainable doing things we enjoy. I hate doing dungeons so I am at a huge disadvantage now in wvwvw.

Hey, if you’re on Stormbluff Island and use Medium Armor or Huntsman weapons? Look me up with the materials and I’ll make you your flipping Exotics.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Also, I’m going to reflect your argument back at you. I don’t know what the game is going to be balanced to in the future. Do you? I don’t know how unbalancing full Ascended is going to be . . . do you? Is there some infallible crystal ball you’re looking into? Cause I could use some lottery numbers. (4,8,15,16,23,42 by the way)

You’re absolutely right, we really have no idea what’s going to happen in the future. However, the point is to let the developers know what is and what isn’t acceptable. Sure, it’s ANet’s game but we’re playing and paying for it and I think that we have a right to let the devs know what we’re ok and not ok with.

Columba.9730:

It should be obtainable doing things we enjoy. I hate doing dungeons so I am at a huge disadvantage now in wvwvw.

They’ve already stated they’re gonna make obtaining Ascended gear possible for WvW… they just haven’t implemented it right away. Chill, I doubt your server will suffer because a handful of people have a piece (or all 3) Ascended items. Pretty sure it still takes a zerg and some siege weapons to take a point (other than supply depots maybe).

krookie.6378:

You’re absolutely right, we really have no idea what’s going to happen in the future. However, the point is to let the developers know what is and what isn’t acceptable. Sure, it’s ANet’s game but we’re playing and paying for it and I think that we have a right to let the devs know what we’re ok and not ok with.

The point is not “this is (un)acceptable” . . . it’s “I find this (un)palatable”. I concede the point that you, personally, find this highly distasteful. That’s something I cannot/will not attempt to tell you you are wrong in. I will however argue against blanket statements made as though they are the One Truth.

On topic, I already said my piece. Exotic gear is already remarkably easy to come by, compared to others and you can do fairly well with it currently. At this current time, no change is required to how easy it is to obtain. You can either luck out on loot (not recommended to rely on), find yourself a crafter willing to do it for materials and no upcharge (more reliable), or learning the craft yourself and pushing it to 400 (very reliable). Note, all of these methods will have a wildly variant amount of time required to do.

Bruno Sardine.2907:

They’ve already stated they’re gonna make obtaining Ascended gear possible for WvW… they just haven’t implemented it right away. Chill, I doubt your server will suffer because a handful of people have a piece (or all 3) Ascended items. Pretty sure it still takes a zerg and some siege weapons to take a point (other than supply depots maybe).

Let’s see, six silver for a ram and about 25 people can take a tower almost before a defense can be mustered if this is done off-peak hours. Less if you have truly focused efforts spearing through to the Lord. For keeps and garrisons, this is a lot more complex and requires more since players will likely be on hand to be defending. Zergs don’t do so hot here compared to focused sieges and a pool of around two to three gold can make the difference between “look at the gate inch down!” to “wall is down, move a ram to the inner gate”.

WvW still rests in the hands of those who can pull together four things: manpower, strategy, tactics, and leadership.

Edit: removed an extra word.

idk… 10 globs of ecto for one piece of gear (used to be 5, though jewelry stayed the same). That seems a little steep.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

Bruno Sardine.2907:

They’ve already stated they’re gonna make obtaining Ascended gear possible for WvW… they just haven’t implemented it right away. Chill, I doubt your server will suffer because a handful of people have a piece (or all 3) Ascended items. Pretty sure it still takes a zerg and some siege weapons to take a point (other than supply depots maybe).

Let’s see, six silver for a ram and about 25 people can take a tower almost before a defense can be mustered if this is done off-peak hours. Less if you have truly focused efforts spearing through to the Lord. For keeps and garrisons, this is a lot more complex and requires more since players will likely be on hand to be defending. Zergs don’t do so hot here compared to focused sieges and a pool of around two to three gold can make the difference between “look at the gate inch down!” to “wall is down, move a ram to the inner gate”.

WvW still rests in the hands of those who can pull together four things: manpower, strategy, tactics, and leadership.

Edit: removed an extra word.

Thank you for expanding on my simplified statement? The point I was making is that regardless of a few folks with “higher stats”, it takes much more than that in order to capture/defend a tower/garrison/keep.

I think people are in this mindset that the gap is like WoW where the difference between tiers is huge…. and with a small amount of players per map it does make a big difference. WvW and GW2 has a much smaller gap between gear by comparison and players with “top gear” are flooded in a sea of players not in optimal gear (or even level 80). The “advantage” your server has is minimal unless a huge portion of your server has Ascended gear and your opponents do not (making the assumption that skill is equal across the servers even though we know this isn’t true).

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

krookie.6378:

You’re absolutely right, we really have no idea what’s going to happen in the future. However, the point is to let the developers know what is and what isn’t acceptable. Sure, it’s ANet’s game but we’re playing and paying for it and I think that we have a right to let the devs know what we’re ok and not ok with.

The point is not “this is (un)acceptable” . . . it’s “I find this (un)palatable”. I concede the point that you, personally, find this highly distasteful. That’s something I cannot/will not attempt to tell you you are wrong in. I will however argue against blanket statements made as though they are the One Truth.

On topic, I already said my piece. Exotic gear is already remarkably easy to come by, compared to others and you can do fairly well with it currently. At this current time, no change is required to how easy it is to obtain. You can either luck out on loot (not recommended to rely on), find yourself a crafter willing to do it for materials and no upcharge (more reliable), or learning the craft yourself and pushing it to 400 (very reliable). Note, all of these methods will have a wildly variant amount of time required to do.

You’re absolutely right. I’m not OK with this change, especially since I purchased the game because it was actively advertised to exclude this “feature” that has now been added.

I don’t claim to speak for the masses. I’m simply offering my feedback and hoping that enough people share my view.

No!

Arenaner, u should make it so we need to grind several dungeons, then the same dungeons but on expert or something difficulty, and then when we are ready, we should start grinding RAIDS! 40 man raids, oldschool baby. And through those raids we can have the best gear stats-wise.

Also u can make the best gear obtainable thourgh pvp, but RANKED pvp!

This is going to be something completly NEW and INTERESTING, something that we have never experienced before! xD gogo!

Bruno Sardine.2907:

Thank you for expanding on my simplified statement? The point I was making is that regardless of a few folks with “higher stats”, it takes much more than that in order to capture/defend a tower/garrison/keep.

I’ve typed that all out in various formats over several different iterations in the last three days it’s almost reflex :/

if max stat gear easy to be obtained… so what should i do on my lvl 80 character? I already finish my story, have max stat gear (because easy), complete the map, what next?

it’s kinda boring if just only do PvP/WvW….

• just ask, no offense

“A game without farming and grinding” that’s what they told…

So yes , they should be easy.

Yes, the goal of the game should be allowing the players to have fun, not grind.

Absolutly! That was one of the parts of GW1 that I truly loved. Getting max stat armor was pretty easy, and it was fun trying to get to kaneing or droks. You could just play the game and do the missions and you would get it natuarally, or you could get a run to droks, or like me and my guildies did, fight your way down! Once that was done, you could work on getting the cool skins and working on the missions. There was a grind for the “elite” armor like FOW, but that was optional, it gave you no benefit other then the “cool” factor.

Febrizzio.8024:

if max stat gear easy to be obtained… so what should i do on my lvl 80 character? I already finish my story, have max stat gear (because easy), complete the map, what next?

it’s kinda boring if just only do PvP/WvW….

• just ask, no offense

Pursue cosmetic rewards, which are all your “max stat” grinding would be in the end anyway. Except they last! Max your crafting. Do dungeons. Collect miniatures to form a tiny army. There’s a ton of stuff to do man, I don’t need to list it all out here… dunno why people think grinding for max stats is the be-all, end-all of end-game content. It’s not content, it’s a prerequisite to experiencing content, you’ve only been conditioned to believe that you’re actually doing something by the terrible design gimmicks for player-retention implemented by subscription MMO’s from the dinosaur age.

Laelgon.8046:

I think no. That said, there should be gear that is certainly adequate for all content that is easy to get, which is currently true.

How can anything less that max stats ever be considered acceptable for PvP ?

Especially something with an 8-12% increase of all stats once ANET rolls out the full set of Ascended gear.

Rpgtabbycat.5869:

The problem with easily obtained max stat gear is that once people obtain it shortly after hitting level 80 they complain that there is no endgame content and nothing to do. Then they leave.

Let them leave. Plenty of non-MMOs make money with players who finish the game and stop playing till the next DLC/title in the series comes out. With no subscription fee, why can’t GW2 do the same ?

If they don’t come back, then I doubt it’s the lack of a gear treadmill that’s kept them away. Especially when these are the players that think max stats means they are done, even when there is a lot of content they have missed. For example, how many of them have even tried dungeon story modes ?
One time when I was trying for a COF story group, I got invited to an explorable group who couldn’t read*, then asked why I would do story when I could just skip to explorable. So I know those content skippers exist.

Better to keep the people who will actually do all the content.

*Why else would they invite someone saying “LFG Story” ?

fractal.7039:

WvWvW will never EVER be balanced. It is a zerg fest… and if you think a minor stat increase will effect that you are wrong.

Would you ever be happy if ANET decided to nerf a class, no matter how small a nerf, for any reason other than that class being overpowered ?

What about buffing a class that wasn’t underpowered ?

Because that’s what’s happened here. The people who can stand grinding FOTM have been buffed, which is the same as saying that everyone else has been nerfed. Before FOTM they were identical in stats, which means that they were clearly balanced.

Bruno Sardine.2907:

Columba.9730:

It should be obtainable doing things we enjoy. I hate doing dungeons so I am at a huge disadvantage now in wvwvw.

They’ve already stated they’re gonna make obtaining Ascended gear possible for WvW… they just haven’t implemented it right away. Chill, I doubt your server will suffer because a handful of people have a piece (or all 3) Ascended items. Pretty sure it still takes a zerg and some siege weapons to take a point (other than supply depots maybe).

Why does it take them so long to make a vendor selling the Ascended items ?

Febrizzio.8024:

if max stat gear easy to be obtained… so what should i do on my lvl 80 character? I already finish my story, have max stat gear (because easy), complete the map, what next?

it’s kinda boring if just only do PvP/WvW….

• just ask, no offense

Well, there’s the Explorer achievements (hidden jumping puzzles or events), there’s the heartbreak and toil to chase the Legendary weapon you want the most. (NOT for the faint of heart or light of wallet. . )

Or there’s my personal favorite. Screwing around in lower level zones escorting people through events.

Febrizzio.8024:

if max stat gear easy to be obtained… so what should i do on my lvl 80 character? I already finish my story, have max stat gear (because easy), complete the map, what next?

it’s kinda boring if just only do PvP/WvW….

• just ask, no offense

That’s when you start working on the cool skins. For instance, legendaries should not be any better then an epic, execpt for the skin. The same for the dungeon armor. You set aside the really cool looking armor/weapons with the “special effect” like flames, glowing or additional animations, and make thoses what we would work for. TGhat’s how it was in GW1 and it worked great, you reached max level, max armor, and worked on getting the new skins, or accessories like sun glasses or scarfs.

ShiningSquirrel.3751:

That’s how it was in GW1 and it worked great, you reached max level, max armor, and worked on getting the new skins, or accessories like sun glasses or scarfs.

This reminds me I really need to get back to actually finishing my Vabbian set.

Yes, it should be easy. Grinding for stat is never tasteful.

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

And who says that? Blizzard?

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Guild Wars 2 was promised to be different. I bought it because of that promise.

Yes, I shouldn’t have to grind for max stag gear, I shouldn’t have to pay for max stag gear with real money. (Skins are another issue entirely.) We were lied to. I worked too hard on the exotics. I don’t want to be on a stat gear treadmill. The new ascended gear for me was the final insult. (there were many) I left permanently after that.

I believe a single complete set of max stat gear should be obtainable with a 20 hour time investment. Keep in mind that max-stat don’t necessarily mean high-end. That was how the old GW1 operated, and it worked.

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Go back to WoW if you don’t like the Guild Wars mindset that much!

Bruno Sardine.2907:

Columba.9730:

It should be obtainable doing things we enjoy. I hate doing dungeons so I am at a huge disadvantage now in wvwvw.

They’ve already stated they’re gonna make obtaining Ascended gear possible for WvW… they just haven’t implemented it right away. Chill, I doubt your server will suffer because a handful of people have a piece (or all 3) Ascended items. Pretty sure it still takes a zerg and some siege weapons to take a point (other than supply depots maybe).

why won’t they say when, and why isn’t it available to wvwvw people now?

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Trying to destroy? The locusts and hamsters took care of that already. Game is only going to get worse from here on out.

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Why the kitten did you even buy this game?

almost every other MMO caters to “spend X amount of hour repeating the same mind numbing task over and over again not because it is fun but to get some higher numbers” but instead of buying one of those you come to the one mmo that promised they wouldn’t do that. You can reward a player for effort in ways other than stats.
Frankly people should pissed when a company pulls a blatant bait and switch on them.

Iarkrad.8415:

I believe a single complete set of max stat gear should be obtainable with a 20 hour time investment. Keep in mind that max-stat don’t necessarily mean high-end. That was how the old GW1 operated, and it worked.

I agree. We were promised no grind. By the time you put in the work to get to level 80, you should be easilly be able to buy/ obtain a max stat set. You said 20 hours, sound like a rough estimate of how long it takes to get to max level.

The problem is this game has changed very much since its manifesto and inception. It’s a totally different game now. I think that is a very bad thing.

To answer the original question:
Yes, I strongly believe that max stat gear should be easily obtainable, no 70g a piece bullkitten. This allows everyone to have the same statistical strength and would allow casuals to just drop in and play without having to worry about being excluded or dragging down their party because they have weak gear, and would make being better based on skill rather than gear at max level.

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Why does the reward have to be better stats? There are many ways to reward players, the easiest of which is just looking awesome. Things like better looking armor or cool titles still allow players to feel rewarded for their work in a way that’s also easy to show off to others without creating a power imbalance or making those items necessary. Players aren’t whining about wanting everyone to be equal, they only want everyone to be equal in strength. Players should obviously still be able to visually distinguish themselves.

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

He’s right. This is now a generic “MMO”, with a generic “progression” system. It is just about average when compared to the others.

And… if all of us “whiners” get our way his kind wouldn’t know what to do with the game anymore. They would have to go find some other “perfectly good MMO” to play.

Bruno Sardine.2907:

They’ve already stated they’re gonna make obtaining Ascended gear possible for WvW… they just haven’t implemented it right away.

Based on the cost of current ascended items and the cost of exotic invaders gear it will be something ridiculous like 2000 badges. That would be unacceptable.

Demented Sheep.1642:

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Why the kitten did you even buy this game?

almost every other MMO caters to “spend X amount of hour repeating the same mind numbing task over and over again not because it is fun but but to get some higher numbers” but instead of buying one of those you come to the one mmo that promised they wouldn’t do that and frankly people should pissed when a company pulls a blatant bait and switch on them.

No one wants something endlessly repetitive. On the other hand so many whiners in this game want things pretty much handed to them.

What are people going once they max their gear out in a three days-week (perhaps longer for the very casual player)? Is there any point of going into a dungeon? Are skins really worth the effort to the entire gw2 population to waste some hours getting?

I WvW but that isn’t always the most entertaining. With the “PVE-Welfare State” there’s not as many ways to entertain myself….

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

Let them leave. Plenty of non-MMOs make money with players who finish the game and stop playing till the next DLC/title in the series comes out. With no subscription fee, why can’t GW2 do the same ?

And the thing is they’re probably going to leave soon anyway when the next mmo arrives.

Loaded question, OP

You said easy, no the word is achievable by everyone. Yes, max stat weapons in GW2 should have a wide path of access via horizontal progression:

• Buy Exotics for Karma.

• Buy Exotics for Gold.

• Earn Exotics through Dungeon tokens in any of 8 different dungeons.

• Earn Exotics through WvW badges.

• Craft Exotics through mob drops / mining.

• Throw rares into Mystic Forge.

…in fact, stats should never been so heavy a focus in gw2, but this path was started several years past, at the WoW-ification of the gw franchise. Now embrace the final transition to WoW II.

The plan is now complete.

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

What are people going once they max their gear out in a three days-week (perhaps longer for the very casual player)?

Whatever they think is fun. If nothing is fun, then they won’t play, which is absolutely fine. When people do that, the correct interpretation ArenaNet should make is that they need to make more fun content – not that they should start bribing players to keep playing by introducing newer, stronger items that everyone needs if all they want is to be done with that part of the game.

Intrinsic rewards are inherently more respectful of the player base, longer lasting, and engender more satisfaction and loyalty than extrinsic rewards.
If you make a game that people play because it’s fun to play, they will keep playing that game as long as they have fun with it.
If you make a game that people play because they keep getting a cookie every time they play, they lose interest as soon as the cookies are gone, or if they see a bigger cookie in another game – say, one that has had 8+ years to perfect their cookie baking schedule and has billions of dollars to crap away on whatever they want.

Is there any point of going into a dungeon?

Yes, when they’re fun to play.

Are skins really worth the effort to the entire gw2 population to waste some hours getting?

Yes, when people have fun playing the underlying game to get them.

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

Demented Sheep.1642:

Martrim.1078:

This is an MMO

MMO’s are based on “more effort, more reward”
Stop trying to destroy a perfectly good MMO with the constant whining that all should be equal.

Why the kitten did you even buy this game?

almost every other MMO caters to “spend X amount of hour repeating the same mind numbing task over and over again not because it is fun but but to get some higher numbers” but instead of buying one of those you come to the one mmo that promised they wouldn’t do that and frankly people should pissed when a company pulls a blatant bait and switch on them.

No one wants something endlessly repetitive. On the other hand so many whiners in this game want things pretty much handed to them.

What are people going once they max their gear out in a three days-week (perhaps longer for the very casual player)? Is there any point of going into a dungeon? Are skins really worth the effort to the entire gw2 population to waste some hours getting?

I WvW but that isn’t always the most entertaining. With the “PVE-Welfare State” there’s not as many ways to entertain myself….

You don’t need a carrot on stick do something that actually is fun. I don’t get rewarded for watching a movie but I still do it.
Cosmetics rewards are fine and something that many would work for. Guild wars 1 had this and the sentiment has been expressed by many many people on this site. You want your character to look good do you not? especially if its one you spend a lot of time playing.
Another thing people could work for that don’t include stats is achievements, titles and trophies. A lot of people go for these sort of things in games (including me).
Since this game isn’t even sub based anyway it doesn’t really matter if you stop playing because you’ve got tired of the content currently in the game. Take a break or come back when they release more content and new challenges (new challenges meaning difficult not repetitive ones)

Navzar.2938:

To answer the original question:
Yes, I strongly believe that max stat gear should be easily obtainable, no 70g a piece bullkitten. This allows everyone to have the same statistical strength and would allow casuals to just drop in and play without having to worry about being excluded or dragging down their party because they have weak gear, and would make being better based on skill rather than gear at max level.

Why does the reward have to be better stats? There are many ways to reward players, the easiest of which is just looking awesome. Things like better looking armor or cool titles still allow players to feel rewarded for their work in a way that’s also easy to show off to others without creating a power imbalance or making those items necessary. Players aren’t whining about wanting everyone to be equal, they only want everyone to be equal in strength. Players should obviously still be able to visually distinguish themselves.

Yes to all the above.

Hydrophidian.4319:

Jski.6180:

True but your looking for it non the less. To make a game that just hands you every thing will be dead with in a month that why there are no more games like that other then the 6hr story games and even they have some build in “work for something.”

I played a game for 8 years that didn’t subscribe to this mentality. When I maxed out a character, got the build to where I wanted it, that character was done. I then went and did other things. Like, for example, making a new character (I had 36 of them by the time it was all over). I also built a guild, I designed in-game spaces, I PvPed, I played the market, collected titles, wrote content, and roleplayed.

In 8 years, my main was “upgraded” twice, and those weren’t even entirely vertical upgrades.

The mentality you’re describing just isn’t universal.

It is for all games what you where putting worth in was ppl and in some ways the new events and gear help you make better relationship with ppl because you got to work as a team for the higher level events. In you own way you “upgraded” often in your view of what was important and i cant even guess how hard that was.

Yes it should be. The game equipment state should be moved back to pre-lost shore patch and if they want to keep Ascended it should be a cosmetic upgrade only.

Yes!

It’s what I loved about GW, no worrying about stats just focus on playing the game.

Yes it should. If you ask me i’d remove levels and gear tiers completely and just focus on playing the game. Yknow, just like the game was before this weekend.

Yes, i loved play GW1 and GW2 until this weekend ( ascend items cough ) because the equipamient is relative “easy and fast”, its about improve the palyer not the gear, and give you the option to have many gear ready for each build.

If you want great skins you have to work, and its great but you can you your job with ugly skins too.

GW2 was like GW1 until this Weekend, now the new Ascend items, the new gear threadmile trying to make a item progresion is the worst what happen to GW saga since 28 april 2005.

I still have hope to arena.net reopen his eyes and stop made ascend items and leave the game like GW1 and until now, but it seem that they change his philosophy to make happy old WoW users.

I would like that Mike O´brian give a answer to the community for such change after told and retold about that the gear would be like the GW items , no gear progresion and people work only about skins.

It sad that now arena.net is knowed in video game forum and mmo community like a “lie company” after this.

Yes, yes it should.

At max level – which should be quick to reach – you should have basic stats comparable to any other player. This should be true in any game with any element of competition between players – whether it’s competition through parallel achievement as in PvE, or direct head-to-head competition as in PvP.

Achievement at max level should be on the level of prestige goods, public renown, and collective benefits for the player’s guild or server.