Guild Wars 2

A simple reading for comprehension pass on the blog post reveals these things. None of them are really debatable aside from the possibility of ANet changing their minds. Neither is the analysis that follows. It’s all there in the blog post’s unapologetically black and white if you care to read it.

The Information

• Ascended items will cover all gear slots when they are fully released. Trinkets, armor, weapons.

• Infusion mitigation will be on a per “Elite Dungeon” basis. In other words, this dungeon we’re getting in this update will require different Infusions from any future dungeons following the same model.

• Infusion bonuses will not only be appliable to the Infusion slot, but the best Ascended items will have that specific Infusion baked in as a bonus stat.

• Infusion upgrades will have rarities themselves. Fine, Masterwork, etc, with Fine being the first released in this update.

• Better Infusion bonuses and Ascended items are not the only rewards to be found in this dungeon. Other high end rewards, likely unobtainable elsewhere, or at the very least difficult or expensive to obtain will be here as well. The rewards obtained scale up with how far you get (the carrot to keep you shooting for higher Infusion.)

What does this mean?

• To master this elite content, defined as going as far as possible in difficulty levels, you will need to grind out a full set of Ascended gear with the highest tier Agony Infusion upgrades and Agony Infusion bonus stats. That is 12 equip slots minus weapons and any applicable underwater items.

• When they release the next elite content following this model, you will need to repeat this process starting at the bottom and acquiring a maxed set of the finest Infused gear for that content’s new Infusion type.

• If you still wish to continue playing the old content as well as the new you will now have at least 24 items that need to be saved. Not including any other sets you may be saving for other uses. This will compound as time goes on and new Infusion types and dungeons are added.

• Groups for this type content will be forced to follow a tiered structure as people of higher Infusion levels will naturally want to group with others of at least their level of Infusion for the best rewards possible. If you want to play with your friends of different Infusion levels, someone is going to have to bite the bullet and accept lower reward potential.

My take

Now this you could argue at me over, throw poop at me for saying, w/e.

This is a complete contradiction to what made Tyria great for me. A complete abandonment of the play because it’s fun, not because you have to keep up mentality.

They have essentially inserted a mini-WoW into Tyria. Only instead of it being existing in its own corner of the game it has been completely integrated. The new gear tier is the best gear tier making all of our previous efforts obsolete. This has also taken the place of our Elite areas that many of us have been looking forward to playing.

We finally start getting Elite areas but unlike FoW, DoA, UW or what have you that had no real barrier to rewards outside of skill and experience, your progress will not be determined by you and your group’s skill (a direct result of GW’s gear plateau) but by the grind numbers on your gear.

Your entry will be determined by your level of grind. You will be gated from higher tier groups until you’ve put in the same amount of grind as they have. Your rewards will not be based on personal ability but by grind. You or your friends will be punished for playing together in this content if your tiers aren’t comparable. When we get new elite areas the grind starts all over again. And of course we keep having to buy bank and inventory expansions.

You could argue that it’s not necessary to play this dungeon until you’re blue in the face. The fact remains that this is new and difficult content with high rewards. The treadmillers aren’t the only ones that have been clamoring for the actual content here, so have the children of Ashford and their friends the weary refugees from treadmill toils.

We love challenge. Just ask those of us that bashed our heads against the DoA wall as we slowly understood its weaknesses so that we could begin to succeed there. And an endless dungeon that gets increasingly harder with increasing rewards is one heck of a fun time already without involving a treadmill. We’ve been there before and it was fun even back then without an ounce of treadmilling.

We do grind and show off our accomplishments. Just ask us about our coveted titles, prestige armors, and ultra-rare items. We have found plenty of carrot to chase and had plenty of fun doing it without resorting to the same old tactics of endless power grind, gated content, and segregated populations that GW, the Manifesto, and indeed GW2 at its release were all about preventing.

This feeling started with all of the new super-integrated RNG gambling addiction mechanics such as the Forge and BLCs. And now this. It feels like I’m watching the last truly innovative MMO company’s intestines slowly being devoured by a pack of glassy eyed koreans and greasy businessmen in fine suits. While its legs are still twitching.

vox.5019:

It feels like I’m watching the last truly innovative MMO company’s intestines slowly being devoured by a pack of glassy eyed koreans and greasy businessmen in fine suits. While its legs are still twitching.

Very intelligent postings together with very artistic descriptions. I couldn’t upvote this enough.

They abandoned play because its fun because MMO’s are driven by hey I did something what do I get rewarded. It is a win win you can have fun doing the content and get a cool shinny as well. Whats the problem with rewards

Great post. Agony/Infusions add nothing to the game. Mobs get new unblockable attack type, players need new items to mitigate it. No interesting mechanics, no higher skill required…just a passive gear effect.

Agreed, oh the good old days of Trapping the UW and running TOPK very fun!

You nailed it.

Not everyone has to agree with you, but NO ONE can say you’re wrong about anything here.

They screwed the pooch. This could be their “tylenol moment,” but I have this feeling it may become their “mcneil moment” instead.

For those who don’t follow business, that’s a REALLY BAD THING.

great post, i love your example