I certainly apologize if this has been posted before. I’ve been playing the game since 2012, but I’ve never gotten around to posting any of my ideas.
So what I’m suggesting here is inspired by the wardrobe feature.
While it’s common and completely understandable to keep different sets of weapons in one’s inventory, I feel like keeping additional sets of armor in either your inventory or your bank become an unnecessary waste of space. Especially when there’s a need for different sets for very specific situations over general PvE (WvW armor set, Great Wurm armor set, Tequatl armor set, etc).
Now, what I’m suggesting is for ascended gear only. I don’t want suggest anything that could possibly have any negative ramifications for the economy. I also feel this suggestion would encourage players to experiment more with different stats and play styles in different situations without feeling regret for the armor set into which they’ve poured their resources. There are certainly PvE situations when I wish my character was playing with Soldier’s or Cleric’s gear instead of Berserker. But the situational nature of it forces the cost to outweigh the benefit.
Another example: In a pug fractal, after a few discouraging wipes, some players may opt to switch to another character that’s built for a more supportive role rather than DPS (such as guardian). Instead, a player who’s unlocked the necessary stats for his character’s ascended gear can simply retrait/restat his equipment to play a more supportive role that isn’t as fragile as berserker stats. (Yes, I know zerker is meta for PvE atm)
Basically, I’m looking at eliminating the need to carry more than one set of armor/weapon of different stats once you’ve crafted your ascended gear. As it stands, ascended armor is account bound, meaning it’s available to any character on that account that meets the weight class requirements. Also, once a Legendary weapon has been created, not only is it account bound, but its stats are interchangeable.
If the idea is to keep interchangeable stats exclusive to Legendaries, then this suggestion is null & void. Especially if the plan is to one day introduce legendary armor/back pieces. If not, I’d like to suggest a feature that both saves bank space and consolidates stats to a single piece of ascended armor/weapon.
-As stated before, this feature is exclusive to ascended crafting.
-No crafting requirements will change. Instead of crafting a new set of armor/weapons, the stats for the crafted ascended piece are simply “unlocked” similarly to the wardrobe.
-The stats are only unlocked for that weight class. For example, unlocking Soldier’s on a heavy piece does not unlock it on a medium or light piece.
-The stats must be unlocked for each individual weapon and piece of armor.
While I am aware that zerker is currently the PvE meta, I do think players as a whole enjoy trying out different combinations of stats and play styles on their character. Even if the build isn’t as efficient.
I’m also suggesting something similar to the wardrobe so that the tedious nature of switching armor/weapon sets between characters is eliminated. Similarly to the wardrobe, there can be an “arsenal” option whereby the player is able to “withdraw” or “select” gear/armor that has already been crafted. Again ascended only.
I realize that some people do enjoy and have spent a great deal of resources on crafting multiple sets of the same types of ascended armor for different characters (such as laurels, pristine fractal relics, etc), so the “arsenal” idea may not be as popular or viable.
At any rate, maybe there are some additional suggestions to refine the idea. Or maybe it’s just a dud. Lastly, my apologies if this has already been suggested (I tried to search the forums).