Guild Wars 2

I’d like it if it meant a variety of ways to obtain it beyond fractals. (Crafting, dungeon tokens, coin, laurels, etc)

I have no single character using berserker gear. My necro has full rabid (trinkets are ascended rabid), my guardian runs PVT, engineer PVT, mesmer rampager. I admit, I would use berserker, if my warrior were lvl 80. It is not mandatory and at least in my guild it doesn’t matter what gear we have, we just have fun to play together. There is no class or gear elitism and I actually never experienced this in this game. Maybe be cause I am on a European international server or I am just lucky with my guild :-)

BTW: I hope or assume that IF they introduce ascended weapons and gear it will be more accessible. Maybe through hardmode dungeons as rewards or other stuff.

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Whether we want it or not, they have already said they will be releasing full Ascended armor and weapons.

And seeing as how the current trend on Ascended gear is (adding a new currency for every new piece they release), we are going to have a lot of new currencies each time they add more Ascended gear.

I agree to this, only if the currency in WvW changes for the updated gear…

They do nothing but accumulate badges and when new gear is introduced will be able to buy it right away, don’t seem fair to me.

I don’t want Ascended Armor until ANet solves the issue of their crappy gear system.

See, the problem I have with all that is, the GW2 gear system is too restrictive and destructive. You cannot get back a rune of you don’t break the item, you cannot get back a skin without destroying the item.

So what happens? If I want multiple stat sets, I need to farm multiple Exotic sets. If I want to try new runes, I need to break the current runes I use and some of those are EXPENSIVE. Now, if I want some specific stat set, it’s rather cheap to get (not that cheap but still), some crafting, or karma, or WvW badges and token gold.All that gives you the stats you want and just that.

Now, Ascended Armor, what is it? First and foremost, it’s a new level of stats, better than exotics I suppose. Let’s assume we can still use runes on them because if not, the armor will probably be useless.

Ascended armor will be a very hard to farm stat set with probably an unique skin, obviously very hard to farm too.

You cannot put a destructive system on top of those very hard to farm items! You just finished getting your full ascended armor set with unique looks and the stats you want. The gem store just started selling that very nice armor skin and it’s NOT in a RNG box for once, will you buy it? Knowing perfectly well you’ll lose the Ascended skin forever? Will you buy it and apply it to some inferior exotic set? No because why wouldn’t you use the better stats of the Ascended Armor set?

The current gear system eats up our bag and bank space in no time and is a deterrent to experimentation with different builds and looks.

Korrigan.4837:

Find yourself a good guild…

already GOT ONE thanks.
what you’re selectively tuning out here…. why any of it matters… is because what the majority of facerollers do, then impacts datamining & how Anet changes the content. DHUUM SKELLIES…. nuff’ said.

If you don’t know that that means… it means they put in a stupid gimmick to try and stop speed clearers who then just ran past the darn things. Then when the rest of the good but relaxed guilds like yours and mine wanted to do that content, we had to get the exact Abusive builds that the Skellies were supposed to have stopped in the first place. Otherwise we couldn’t even get past 4Horsemen on NM b/c of the additional adds that ignored all or AL & buffs.

No, i don’t want it, unless it will be easy enough to obtain. The main problem with asc. gear is that, given how hard (takes long time) it is to obtain, it will be somewhat impossible to make few armor sets for different builds, so basically it will further hurt players with multiple toons and who likes trying new things, builds, etc. GW2 already extremely unfriendly in this, ascended gear will make things even worse.

Yes I want to see it.

However I do not under any circumstances want to see it locked in to particular activities such as fractals – instead it needs to be obtainable through a variety of methods (perhaps mini quests?) and of course be accountbound on acquire so it cannot be sold/bought off the TP

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

do you want ascended armor?

provided if,

the “ascended armor stats” are introduced
as “upgrade stones” that turns
level 80 exotic armor stats into
level 80 ascended armor stats.

allowing you to retain your current armor skins without hassle,
and upgrading the armor stats to ascended.

if this is the case, would you want “ascended armor” then?

p/s: yes, i sill hate transmutation crystals.

for the sake of the game’s longevity I say NO
ascended armor needs to be something new you work towards in order to get people playing and give them something new to do other than daily chest Boss hunting

just please do NOT tie it to stupid laurels or kitteng guild comms that you can only earn a very restricted amount per week

give us unrestricted access to ascended armor, I have 5 alts if it’s restricted how the hell am I suppose to earn them for my alts as well

No, because there is no point in having another grind of any kind for stats. This was the game’s selling point for me…

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

Lalangamena.3694:

no, unless you can make it with crafting.

ascended accessories killed the jewel-crafting trade.

ascended armor will kill armor smith, leather working and tailor trades.

they really should update the crafting skills so that ascended gear can be crafted!

The problem with ascended gear being craftable is that the game would take a significant step towards pay2win. If people with lots of disposable income could buy gems, covert to gold, get crafting mats off the TP and kit themselves out in full ascended gear, I can see a pretty big outcry as a result.

Rooks Zaer.5846:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

Lalangamena.3694:

no, unless you can make it with crafting.

ascended accessories killed the jewel-crafting trade.

ascended armor will kill armor smith, leather working and tailor trades.

they really should update the crafting skills so that ascended gear can be crafted!

The problem with ascended gear being craftable is that the game would take a significant step towards pay2win. If people with lots of disposable income could buy gems, covert to gold, get crafting mats off the TP and kit themselves out in full ascended gear, I can see a pretty big outcry as a result.

If Ascended gear’s stats are as trivial as everyone keeps saying, I don’t see how this would be “pay to win”, since you can already craft exotics.

Or are you saying there is a big enough gap between exotics and ascended that being able to craft it would grant those players an advantage over someone in all exotics?

Tolmos.8395:

Rooks Zaer.5846:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

Lalangamena.3694:

no, unless you can make it with crafting.

ascended accessories killed the jewel-crafting trade.

ascended armor will kill armor smith, leather working and tailor trades.

they really should update the crafting skills so that ascended gear can be crafted!

The problem with ascended gear being craftable is that the game would take a significant step towards pay2win. If people with lots of disposable income could buy gems, covert to gold, get crafting mats off the TP and kit themselves out in full ascended gear, I can see a pretty big outcry as a result.

If Ascended gear’s stats are as trivial as everyone keeps saying, I don’t see how this would be “pay to win”, since you can already craft exotics.

Or are you saying there is a big enough gap between exotics and ascended that being able to craft it would grant those players an advantage over someone in all exotics?

The people saying the stat increase is trivial simply haven’t done the math. It’s a 13% damage increase from exotic berserkers to ascended berserkers due to the multiplicative nature of the individual stat increases. This doesn’t even take into account future ascended armor and weapons likely having more armor rating and weapon damage in addition to the base stats.

Rooks Zaer.5846:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

Lalangamena.3694:

no, unless you can make it with crafting.

ascended accessories killed the jewel-crafting trade.

ascended armor will kill armor smith, leather working and tailor trades.

they really should update the crafting skills so that ascended gear can be crafted!

The problem with ascended gear being craftable is that the game would take a significant step towards pay2win. If people with lots of disposable income could buy gems, covert to gold, get crafting mats off the TP and kit themselves out in full ascended gear, I can see a pretty big outcry as a result.

As long as the ascended items remain reasonably attainable throughout other areas of the game, I don’t think it would be pay2win at all. It would mainly give people why enjoy collecting materials and crafting and etertaining way of obtaining ascended gear (play the way you want).

Imo, pay2win is more in the area of, “obtaining these items would be extremely difficult, or impossible to obtain without using real cash.”

Mungrul.9358:

ProtoGunner.4953:

There was one quote on the 1st page, that really annoys me. Represents the casual, I-want-it-all-but-don’t-like-to-work-for-it-attitude:
Not really. I just want new armor skins. I don’t feel like treadmilling I just wanna collect.

Why do you play games then anyway? Don’t you want a feel of achievement?

I play games to be challenged. I do not play them for some kind of perceived virtual reward.

Then you should be against ascended gear, as it actually decreases the challenge. It doesn’t offer you anything.

I’d frankly prefer them to walk back existing Ascended gear and go back to Exotics as the top tier. I have zero interest in more Ascended trash.

thanks for the feedback!
keep them coming!
anet needs to read this!

updated the topic title to include ascended weapons as well.
will update first post to have more relevant info also.

Ascended gear doesn’t suit me at all. I like changing my builds and gear constantly to keep the game fresh. This isn’t possible with ascended gear due to how long it would take to get multiple sets.

Do you want Ascended Armors & Weapons?

Provided if,

1. The “Ascended Armor / Weapon Stats” are introduced as “Ascended Armor / Weapon Upgrade Stones” that turns Level 80 (Current Max Level) Exotic Armor / Weapon Stats into Level 80 (Current Max Level) Ascended Armor / Weapon Stats. Thus allowing you to retain your current armor skins without hassle, and upgrading the armor stats to ascended.

2. We are able craft Level 80 (Current Max Level) Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces via crafting stations.

3. The crafting materials required to craft Level 80 Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces are reasonable and not does not require an outrageous grind. For example, we need 1850 Fractal Relics to have ONE Ascended Back Piece.

4. Acquire Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces with Karma.

5. A reasonable chance to acquire Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces via special dynamic events all over Tyria.

If this is the case, would you want “Ascended Armor” & “Ascended Weapons” then?

No.

Ascended is a mistake in the first place…so leave it with just accessories.

God Of Fissures.8627:

No.

Ascended is a mistake in the first place…so leave it with just accessories.

all right, if we leave it with just accessories (back item, amulet, accessory, accessory, ring, ring) and how would you feel if there are more ways to obtain them?

like,

1. crafting with reasonable amount of materials
2. reasonable acquisition chance from special dynamic events
3. reasonable amount of karma

I don’t want ascended anything. The provisos in the OP are better than what my cynical mind expects would happen if and when they get introduced, but frankly I’d rather they just stuck at exotics and skill over time spent.

Astralporing.1957:

Then you should be against ascended gear, as it actually decreases the challenge. It doesn’t offer you anything.

Um, I am?
Did you not read the rest of my posts in this thread?

Neither thanks.

No. Not even as an upgrade. I loathe the very thought of how much of a grind getting the materials will be (oh and the trading post… everything required will be ridiculously overpriced for weeks). If it were just like “pay 50 laurels and you weapon becomes ascended”, I’d be okay with it. Instead we’d more likely get “farm 250 of rare mat X (depending on weapon type), 250 ectos and 100 laurels, for a single weapon”.

No. Just leave it at that. Let ascended items remain an experiment with juwelry and backbacks (btw where are regularly accessible exotic backpacks? Still running green and yellow ones because ascended ones are just too much grind…).

Mephane.8496:

No. Not even as an upgrade. I loathe the very thought of how much of a grind getting the materials will be (oh and the trading post… everything required will be ridiculously overpriced for weeks). If it were just like “pay 50 laurels and you weapon becomes ascended”, I’d be okay with it. Instead we’d more likely get “farm 250 of rare mat X (depending on weapon type), 250 ectos and 100 laurels, for a single weapon”.

No. Just leave it at that. Let ascended items remain an experiment with juwelry and backbacks (btw where are regularly accessible exotic backpacks? Still running green and yellow ones because ascended ones are just too much grind…).

oh. i think u can buy exotic back items at orr temple karma merchants!

i still think we should have the option of using karma to buy ascended items!

I admit I don’t want to buy more [Fine] transmutation stones. I have my alts to consider once they get to 80 and thats already too much gems to spend on that. I’d rather spend the gems on other things then something like that, that I should get in game easier then I do at 80 or on the way to 80.

But if they are able to get through Laurels or decent amount of means for PvE and PvP players then I guess in the end I would end up giving in. Personally I never enjoyed fractals so I still never completed my back piece. So if they come solely from fractals again I might be a bit miffed. But I think (hope) ANet knows better then to put them from solely one source.

Heck, I’d love to just get them as a chance drop from world bosses or something. Granted people are able to sell them (for extraordinary high prices I bet ._.). Crafting would also be a good idea. But I don’t think ANet knows what reasonable amount of materials is. Especially when it comes to t6.

Overall though, no. I would not like to see it.

ProtoGunner.4953:

1st: I have a 100% job, but I took my time and set it top priority to get a legendary, so I logged in after coming home from work and farmed my kitten off. This was already done before Christmas.

We all have different playstyles and feelings how a game has to be. For me roleplaying games is about progression, this means not only level progression, but also gear progression. I started pretty early with japanese RPGs (Lunar series in the early 90ies on Sega Mega CD) so I may have a different opinion about games as a whole. I know that MMOs have the bad habit that there is no end (see WoW), since all the bis gear is crap after a new content patch. There is no solution for both playstyles.

If you want to play games to be challenged then I recommend ‘Dark Souls’ for you. It’s an a blast of a game.

So you confirm what I wrote – grinding is becoming a second work. You are an employee in real life, stuggling with tasks that HAVE TO be done. And you do the same in a game that is supposed to be a leisure. Some of us might be OK with that (like yourself for example), some of us don’t. The problem lies not in the differences between our playstyles and which one is better. None of them is at the objective basis. It lies in this – GW2 was announced and targeted for those who don’t. Don’t want to grind, don’t want to be employee of the game, don’t want to be forced to do aquire items that allows to keep them at a competitive level. That’s why a grinding-to-win model, represented by raiding-like gear progress, is rejected by so many of players and forum users here.

As for other points (“slightly” offtopic).
Role playing games are/were actually about… well, role playing. About telling the story, becoming an actor in a self-driven story that was beeing told between players and game master. Progress as we, computer gamers, know it was a side addition to the original paper RPG games. DnD cursed the model with “loot” problem early, but paper-players actually made their foothold and repeled this model of playing in a vast majority. Yet it overtook the cRPG genre, since technical option of giving a true living world to the player is simply impossible without an AI that can handle human interaction. Hence the curse lasts to our days.

As for Dark Sould – I know it. It’s great game and can’t wait to beat a crap out of it. Let just PS4 be released, it will be a first title I’ll buy with it (playing it on keyboard is a pain). But frankly speaking I should reply to you with the same manner: if you want to play MMO games that are grind-based, then I recommend X Y Z MMO titles. Actually, most of titles beeing avalaible out there and cloned WoW’s gameplay model.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

oh. i think u can buy exotic back items at orr temple karma merchants!

i still think we should have the option of using karma to buy ascended items!

Now that you mention it, I remember. Now that I remember, I know why I dismissed them early on: only five specific stat combinations, none fitting my character’s build at all.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

God Of Fissures.8627:

No.

Ascended is a mistake in the first place…so leave it with just accessories.

all right, if we leave it with just accessories (back item, amulet, accessory, accessory, ring, ring) and how would you feel if there are more ways to obtain them?

like,

1. crafting with reasonable amount of materials
2. reasonable acquisition chance from special dynamic events
3. reasonable amount of karma

Meh. I feel that gathering laurels is an easy enough way to obtain them.

God Of Fissures.8627:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

God Of Fissures.8627:

No.

Ascended is a mistake in the first place…so leave it with just accessories.

all right, if we leave it with just accessories (back item, amulet, accessory, accessory, ring, ring) and how would you feel if there are more ways to obtain them?

like,

1. crafting with reasonable amount of materials
2. reasonable acquisition chance from special dynamic events
3. reasonable amount of karma

Meh. I feel that gathering laurels is an easy enough way to obtain them.

Easy, but both tedious and heavily time-gated. There definitely should be other ways – many other ways. Way more than we have now (and for every piece, without limiting slots to specific gameplay). Also, at least crafting (and not MF type item mixing) must eventually be updated to crafting top tier gear in order to stay relevant. If it won’t be updated, then it should be scrapped as an abandoned idea.

here’s the issue… If you make all those concessions, that’s the point of the gear? You’ll get it in a day. I don’t want more tiers of armor, I think gear grind is a poor mechanic. I’d rather play content to get mounts or some other major (not just armor & weapon look) thing that adds to my character’s look & feel.

I don’t want them UNLESS they throw players with multiple characters a bone and give us a way to get things like laurels outside of daily’s. Even then, Id prefer we don’t get new gear. Just throw in some more legendarys with varying (but equivalent) stats for players who want to farm more content.

DarksunG.9537:

here’s the issue… If you make all those concessions, that’s the point of the gear? You’ll get it in a day.

Yes, exactly. I don’t see any point of hard-to-achieve better-stats armor except to divide the community into the elite haves minority and the casual have-nots crowd. If you can’t remove the gear from the game anymore, at least make it’s presence bearable. The game doesn’t need to concentrate on the gear treadmill – it can be way better. If only devs would choose so.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

Do you want Ascended Armors & Weapons?

Provided if,

1. The “Ascended Armor / Weapon Stats” are introduced as “Ascended Armor / Weapon Upgrade Stones” that turns Level 80 (Current Max Level) Exotic Armor / Weapon Stats into Level 80 (Current Max Level) Ascended Armor / Weapon Stats. Thus allowing you to retain your current armor skins without hassle, and upgrading the armor stats to ascended.

2. We are able craft Level 80 (Current Max Level) Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces via crafting stations.

3. The crafting materials required to craft Level 80 Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces are reasonable and not does not require an outrageous grind. For example, we need 1850 Fractal Relics to have ONE Ascended Back Item. The grind is a bit too much. There should be a skin-less no grind version of the Ascended Back Piece. Skin-less as in, does not show up on our toon, like those Back Items we got from our personal story:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Back_item
Personal story
No level requirement
From any of the level 33 quests: Killer Instinct, Down the Hatch, or Bad Blood.
Choice of: Hearty Back Brace, Enduring Back Brace, or Strong Back Brace.
L80 requirement/Masterwork:
From completing the personal story quests: Blast from the Past, Ships of the Line, The Steel Tide
Choice of: Berserkers Spineguard of the Berserker, Clerics Spineguard of the Cleric or Rampagers Spineguard of the Rampager

4. Acquire Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Pieces with Karma.

5. A reasonable chance to acquire Ascended Armors, Weapons, Trinkets, Back Items via special dynamic events all over Tyria.

If all of the above are true and valid, would you still want “Ascended Armor” & “Ascended Weapons” then?

All of the above. Well mostly.

1. With the transmutation system this is a ridiculous option. Surely ascended weps and armor will come with transmutation stones.

2. Yes of course. Should be time consuming to craft and tradeable.

3. Yea i agree with that example the grind is too much.. Yet it does sit well within the range of exotic to legendary – which was their purpose anyway. What i would suggest is a grind, but varied grind. Instead of having to collect 1000 of these, you had to collect 10s of multiple components etc.

4. Yes of course.

5. OF COURSE!

stof.9341:

I don’t want Ascended Armor until ANet solves the issue of their crappy gear system.

See, the problem I have with all that is, the GW2 gear system is too restrictive and destructive. You cannot get back a rune of you don’t break the item, you cannot get back a skin without destroying the item.

So what happens? If I want multiple stat sets, I need to farm multiple Exotic sets. If I want to try new runes, I need to break the current runes I use and some of those are EXPENSIVE. Now, if I want some specific stat set, it’s rather cheap to get (not that cheap but still), some crafting, or karma, or WvW badges and token gold.All that gives you the stats you want and just that.

Now, Ascended Armor, what is it? First and foremost, it’s a new level of stats, better than exotics I suppose. Let’s assume we can still use runes on them because if not, the armor will probably be useless.

Ascended armor will be a very hard to farm stat set with probably an unique skin, obviously very hard to farm too.

You cannot put a destructive system on top of those very hard to farm items! You just finished getting your full ascended armor set with unique looks and the stats you want. The gem store just started selling that very nice armor skin and it’s NOT in a RNG box for once, will you buy it? Knowing perfectly well you’ll lose the Ascended skin forever? Will you buy it and apply it to some inferior exotic set? No because why wouldn’t you use the better stats of the Ascended Armor set?

The current gear system eats up our bag and bank space in no time and is a deterrent to experimentation with different builds and looks.

This all day, all night until they make a better itemization/gear/build/stat/looks system
But I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re locked down to one build and one looks because the grind and clunkyness of it all would be unbearable. Just make sure it’s full zerkers so you are allowed to grind in the next optimal farm route :P

But yeah, ideally there wouldn’t even be ascended at all, but that’s a very dead cold horse.

Haha looks like the most common response in this thread is “No”.

I’d like to add… No, I don’t want ascended gear. Get lost, ugly treadmill.

I’m fine with it under the circumstances that it doesn’t cost me laurels, badges, shards, commendations, dungeon tokens, fractall bullkitten, or any other account bound thing they can throw at me… anything that isn’t straight gold for it can gtfo

I don’t mind getting Ascended Armor and Weapons, but I don’t want anymore stat upgrades after that. That was one of the best thing about Guild Wars was no gear grind. Luckily in this game though, Ascended gear is only really needed if you’re into fractals. Otherwise the stats are not that much better than exotic

Personally, no, I don’t really want it. I’m fine with the endgame being ‘grind’ (of various descriptions) for cosmetics/skins, but I think making it that much more difficult for people to construct gear sets that suit them both stats-wise and looks-wise, and to change them as their tastes and needs change, would be a good idea. As it is we already may have to change our gearsets around (and potentially buy transmute crystals) due to patch changes to traits and skills, or when swapping between PvP, WvW, dungeons, fractals and open-world PvE. Any more barriers to ‘switching things up’ would be a needless timesink IMO.

Gear treadmill and more time gating RNG?

no thanks…

no. Gear grind is against the GW philosophy (obviously that didn’t stop them from doing some ascended stuff, but let’s end it where it is).

No more Tetsusaiga’s please.. Can we have sets of armor that look good on all races not only Norn and Charr? If they make Ascended armor with stats above the current levels, they will nerf the crap out of everything else and give ascended armor the stats we currently have.

God Of Fissures.8627:

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

God Of Fissures.8627:

No.

Ascended is a mistake in the first place…so leave it with just accessories.

all right, if we leave it with just accessories (back item, amulet, accessory, accessory, ring, ring) and how would you feel if there are more ways to obtain them?

like,

1. crafting with reasonable amount of materials
2. reasonable acquisition chance from special dynamic events
3. reasonable amount of karma

Meh. I feel that gathering laurels is an easy enough way to obtain them.

but it would be nice if there are other alternatives also right?

Unless they release some other form of progression, yes.

Id rather not. But I have a big issue with Laurels atm, so if they do add them, please add more ways to get them than by Laurels. I already have 1.5 years before I can fully equip my characters with ascended gear to go.

Ascended gear is a terrible idea. I do not want a gear treadmill. There already is one via laurels to get amulets, and that’s too much!

I would be fine with it if they put it in and it was WvW only for a good 6 months to even out what happened with PvE & ascended gear… and make sure they can never get gloves from PvE to even out how WvW-ers still can’t get an ascended back.

No. It’s unneeded.

New expansion = new armor, that’s the only time we will see armor

I also think it’s kind of a stupid idea to give the players who play 24/7 to become better at this game… something that makes the game even easier than before (making them even more bored at the game), while the people who really would need them (casuals/newbies) can’t have them because of the farm they will require.

I suppose ascended armor would be kind of OK if it was account bound and it wasn’t any better than exotic armor, but had just more agony resistance.

It’d be kind of interesting though if it also had some sort of negative effect compared to the positive… say 5% more crit damage, but also 5% less health – something that would add a layer of difficulty and reward.